When They Found Each Other
by debs o.0
Summary: It had been a calm night, the night in which they met. And it was fortunate they did, for if they hadn't found eachother, they'd both be lost. (rating may change, and summary too... actually a lot of things might change)
1. Prologue

**Hey guys!**

**So this is the promo to my multichaptered fic. This is the first long story I'm trying to write, so have patience with me. Read the promo and tell me what you think about it.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

It was a calm night.

He stood on the railing of a building, a hospital if he remembered correctly, watching the nightlife.

It was the ideal night. People were strolling down the roads, filling the town, so full of life, of laughter, of joy. He didn't feel joy. Not anymore. He hadn't been for a long time.

He simply stood there.

Watching.

Deciding who his prey would be that night.

* * *

It was a calm night.

She was walking down the corridors, checking if everything was alright.

It was the ideal night. No emergencies so far, no problems for the patients already checked-in. And as people were strolling down the road, filled with joy, she wondered if she'd ever be able to feel as carefree as they seemed to be.

But she didn't have time to wonder.

She had one more floor to check.

And the roof too.

* * *

He simply stood there.

Her heart fluttered.

Why was he standing there?

Had he escaped the psychiatric department?

Was he trying to kill himself?

She couldn't help but move forward, curious about that dark individual; strangely feeling he was in need, and unable to turn away from someone she could help.

She set her chart aside and moved a few steps nearer to the boy… no, man. She could guess he had a strong figure, by looking at the shoulders covered by a long dark coat, his hair was as black as the night sky in the countryside – here there were too many artificial lights – and he was looking down, to the ground far away, or to the people. She couldn't really tell from behind.

He was standing precariously on the railing.

With a calm voice – that surprised even her – she said "You know, death isn't the answer to unhappiness."

* * *

He felt her coming.

He had felt her already when she had yet to start climbing the stairs to the roof. He could feel her blood.

He could flee. He knew it would take a minute, a second, to disappear and find a prey somewhere else.

But it was that time of the year. And he was tired. Tired of running, of hiding, of pretending.

Of being alone.

He couldn't fool himself anymore: he was alone. But most importantly: he hated it.

As much as he was a loner, a silent and reserved person, he hated the loneliness.

She opened the door, and he felt her heart flutter as she saw him.

In fear? Most probably.

He was too tired to turn around, so he disregarded the girl completely, keeping on watching the night. He didn't even consider her as a meal.

Now she was coming closer. Would he have to put her to sleep? Erase her memory?

He was tired. But even with how tired of this 'life' he was, her next words struck him.

"You know, death isn't the answer to unhappiness."

* * *

**So? What do you think?**

**The first chapter will be posted in a few days at most, seeing as it is finished, it just needs checking.**

**As far as the other chapters are concerned, I don't know what to tell you, I'll try to at least post monthly, but I can't promise anything, for some it may take only a week, for others more than a month. remember this is the first time I'm giving this a go.  
**

**I hope you'll follow me and support me through this journey :)**

**For now review on this prologue :)  
**

**Xoxo -debs**


	2. Chapter 1

**So here is the first chapter, so far I'm keeping my word: just a few days right? :)**

**Read and review**

**And most of all: Enjoy!**

* * *

Now he turned around.

She thought he was committing suicide? Oh how he wished it would be that easy to kill him. But a fall from a building wouldn't even give him a headache. He kept on observing the girl, wondering what her next move would be.

Seeing as she had his attention, she moved a little nearer to him "I don't know what brought you here, but you shouldn't give your life up for it. Your life is worth living. Look around yourself: isn't the world beautiful? Don't give all this up. Whatever happened, you can work it out." She waited for some kind of reaction, ready to step in and grab him if he made any attempt at jumping down.

She was fascinating, pink hair, green eyes, she caught his attention. A rare feat. Petite and delicate she looked ready to act any minute, as if she'd be able to drag him up, should he decide to jump down. Ridiculous.

At his lack of answer she frowned "Do you understand me? Or are you having some kind of hallucinating episode? Do you suffer of some psychic problem?" after a pause she huffed "What am I doing, he probably doesn't even know I'm here right now".

She still felt a bit more relieved, seeing as he wasn't showing any sign of wanting to jump down yet; he may really have escaped the psychiatric department, he wasn't probably even aware he was standing on a railing, on the verge of falling down, he was probably seeing green fields or whatever. Scratch that, this was a far worse situation than a man committing suicide; this one couldn't even be talked into reason and convinced on not jumping. She should have brought her pager with her. She decided she would have to slowly corner him and then forcefully drag him down.

Then unexpectedly he answered her.

"I can still sense people's presence when they are near well enough, thank you very much"

He sounded offended, even as his face didn't show any sign of emotion. He was completely detached, nothing could be read about him while he was hiding behind that façade. Still he sounded normal, not like a psycho. So she stopped.

"You're not sick?"

His face remained unmoved, nearly devoid of emotion if not for the raising of an inch of his eyebrow, yet he managed to convey all of his disdain and offense at that statement. He found the question so ridiculous he didn't even deem it worthy of a verbal answer. As much as she was intriguing him, she was also starting to annoy him, well what did he expect? She was still a human.

She was mystified "Right… So why are you standing there?"

"I'm hunting" was his curt answer.

"Hunting what?"

He smirked, unable to prevent himself of doing so "Wouldn't you like to know?"

She frowned, something wasn't right here, that man had a strange aura around himself, it sent a message of power and danger and darkness somehow. "So you're not committing suicide?"

He raised his eyebrow again as an answer, managing to make it even more disdainful. Was she really thinking that?

She narrowed her eyes then, that superior attitude of his was already getting on her nerves.

"Can you come down then,_ please_?" that 'please' didn't exactly come out as a polite asking, seeing as she was gritting her teeth.

"Why?"

She sighed frustrated "You're making me nervous, standing there as if you're about to fall down."

Suddenly, in a fluid move, he was in front of her, centimetres from her face.

He inclined his head studying her. She was an interesting little thing, despite some annoying habit. At first he had thought she was afraid when she saw him, which was no strange thing, his mere presence instilled terror even in those who didn't know who he was, _what _he was. Still when he had turned around no sign of fear had been present on her face, she seemed concerned, but not for her wellbeing. And then he had realised, she wasn't simply _scared, _she was _scared for_ someone, and that someone was he himself.

That was the main fact that had him stop and actually engage in a conversation with a human; something he had not done in centuries, apart for the luring in to feed. Equally unexpected was the fact that as the conversation went on she kept on getting more and more interesting, but not for what she said. It was _how _she said it.

It was clear at first that even though she wasn't straight out terrorized, she still felt part of the effect he had on people, she had realized he was dangerous, she was cautious, but as the conversation went on she became more and more bold, until she nearly growled at him when he didn't heed her demand immediately, she actually had the nerve to sigh at him! He didn't remember the last one who dared do such a thing. Actually he did, but _he_ was an exception to every written and unwritten rule.

She was fascinating, how easily her mood could change, how such changes showed clearly on her face as they happened, how brave and selfless she seemed to be, seeing as she worried about his wellbeing putting aside the fact that she was in danger, and that the cause of said danger was exactly the one she wanted to help.

He noted how she blushed when she realised how close he was. Had she not blushed he might have mistaken her accelerated heartbeat as fear; but no, it seemed she was embarrassed, and he wasn't sure but he thought he saw attraction in the eyes that held his reflection. And now that she had his full attention he noticed her unconscious leaning towards him, as if drawn to him. He smirked at her reaction, was she really that innocent, that this mere vicinity could make her blush?

"Better now?"

As he whispered those words across her face, she felt her blush strengthen. She didn't know what caused that reaction on her, she usually handled men's advances pretty well, she was an expert at ignoring and turning down, yet now that he was hovering over her she was frozen, as if she wanted to be there. Why did she feel like this with this stranger? Maybe it was the fact that he wasn't _actually_ making any advance. It's just that his behaviour seemed so predatory… He wasn't even touching her, yet she felt cornered but not scared, on the contrary she felt strangely warm inside, just by the proximity of his face and by the way he was looking at her.

She wasn't sure she liked how she was feeling.

Snapping from the moment, she forced herself to overcome whatever this was and cleared her throat; leaning as far as possible, without actually taking a step back – she didn't want to make it seem a retreat – she said "Now I need space. Could you move away a bit?"

His smirk widened, but he didn't move, as if he was waiting for something. Waiting for her to say something more. Something she didn't want to say, but knew he already noticed.

"Alright! You're making me even more nervous, happy now?" she admitted huffing and turning her head on one side with a pout.

Still she heard him as he answered "More than usual"

When she turned to look at him, she saw that not only had he reduced the distance as she had asked, he had also turned around and was proceeding towards the railing again. Her eyes widened "Wait! What are you doing now?!"

He didn't stop, but he felt the strange compulsion to answer her "I'm resuming my activity"

"Wait!" now she was moving towards him "You can't jump down the railing! It's more than five floors high! You wouldn't survive such a fall!"

In front of the railing he turned around, letting her catch up with him "You would be surprised what I'd be able to survive"

"Don't joke" she frowned at him.

A hand came to her face, and as he caressed the side of her face she felt electricity spread from the point where he touched her face throughout her body. His hand settled then on her neck tracing her pulse and watching it with a dazed look. When he snapped out of it, he looked her in the eyes, his decision made "You interest me. It would be a pleasure to learn you." he dipped her head so that her face was directly in front of his bent one "But now I need to feed and it's late. Until the next time…" and he paused waiting for her to reveal him her name.

Mesmerized she murmured "Sakura"

He smirked licking his lips, fitting name, "It is a _pleasure_" he tested her name "_ Sakura_".

Then with a leap he jumped in the air landing on the railings, still facing her, without missing a beat. As if he hadn't just blindly jumped on a slim piece of old iron on top of a building, without even looking at it.

At that point Sakura regained control of herself and became once more aware of the situation "Wait! No human would survive a fall from this height!" she exclaimed leaping towards the railing he was on top of.

He crouched so their faces were on the same level and smirked again "Good thing I'm not human then"

Not leaving her the time to react to those words he straightened up and said "The name's Sasuke. I will come for you".

And with that he jumped.

* * *

**What did you think?**

**Not bad for a first chapter? This is just them meeting, I made it something light, just to introduce a bit of the characters and test their interaction. I don't know, I'm doing something completely new. So leave your review; any comment will be much appreciated.**

**I've started working on the second chapter, meaning I have the content for it completed I 'just' need to write it :) that may take from a few days to some weeks, it depends on my mood, but I'd like to have an approximate storyline finished before publishing the second chapter, just to be sure of how I'm writing what, so I can't promise you anything, also I won't be home next week so that may interfere with the publishing, but I promise I'll try to make it less than a month before the second chapter comes out :)**

**Thank you in anticipation for your reviews and support!**

**Xoxo -debs**


	3. Chapter 2

**Alright, seriously I never expected to update this quickly, I guess I'm full of inspiration these days.**

**Still all of it is a bit suspicious, so just in case be careful, my muse might leave me any minute now.**

**IMPORTANT! : the next chapter won't be due for another week at least, since I'm over at a friend's place :) I'll try to write it for Sunday….**

**I also wanted to thank all of the people who have read these first chapters of my story, I really appreciate your reviews and you following it. You give me the will to continue :) I'll work hard I promise, I'll try not to disappoint you, still any suggestion and critique is well accepted.**

**Read and review :) they make me happy.**

* * *

Five.

Six.

Seven.

She lost count. The pink haired surgeon couldn't help getting distracted, removing stiches was such a tedious and repetitive job there was no way her mind wouldn't wander off as her body mechanically continued working, it was like when you're driving down the same road you take every day: you are bound to go on autopilot mode and not even notice what you're doing.

Of course her encounter the previous night did nothing to keep her mind on the work at hand, in fact as much as she tried to concentrate she had spent the whole morning daydreaming, more exactly reliving her exchange with the stranger. With Sasuke.

The name left a strange tingle in her stomach when she thought it; ridiculous. It was ridiculous that simply thinking the name of a stranger she only met once for a short time, a stranger who was probably mentally ill, and as probably was now dead, could inspire in her such sensations. That's why the moment that thought came into her mind when she woke up in the morning, she decided it was all nonsense and that she should not dwell on it.

Yes that's what she decided.

Of course it was one thing to decide something, and another to actually go through with that decision. And that's how she forgot to call back Ino, who later sent her a text informing her – not asking – that she would pick her up the next day for a girls outing at the SPA, that was also how she went into the wrong operating room and nearly carried on a heart transplant before noticing her actual patient was waiting in the other room.

For these and other _irrelevant _accidents she had spent half an hour slapping some sense into herself in the bathroom.

Still it wasn't simply her peculiar attraction to that man that left her wondering and distracted. No.

There still was the strange aura that surrounded him. Sakura prided herself in her social skills, she was good at reading people, yet there was something unsettling about him, as if something was escaping her grasp, something she couldn't quite put her finger on; she knew he was dangerous, she had no doubt about that, but she didn't think he was evil and as much as he made it clear he wasn't trying to kill himself, she was nearly sure she had been able to glimpse at an emotion in the back of his eyes that looked suspiciously like sadness.

Also the way he was carrying himself not only exposed great authority and a leading tendency, but he also was surrounded by a veil of mystery, as if she wouldn't be able to actually touch him, had she tried, as if part of him wasn't real. She couldn't explain it.

Of course apart from these sensations there was also the most obvious fact. The jump.

_Sakura let out a startled scream as she watched his body get past the railing into the night. With her hands near her heart, feeling as if it could jump out of her chest any minute now, she neared the edge. Not really wanting to see the corpse of the man she had just talked to on the sidewalk, but at the same time needing to. Yet as she bent over the railing to watch his lifeless broken body on the ground she was met with nothing. No corpse laying on the ground, no people shouting, actually nothing seemed out of place, every one kept on walking minding their own business. She gaped. He had simply disappeared in the night_

She shook her head, as if it could rid her of the memory.

The sensations she had were nothing, if confronted with the happenings in themselves.

As she got home that night she remembered thinking it must all have been an hallucination. She was probably tired from her long shift, her mind must have played tricks on her.

Yet as she laid in bed watching the ceiling that night, she couldn't stop the nagging thought that she was deluding herself. A part of her kept repeating the scene taking it in as real, another part rejected that possibility with all her might. She didn't know what to think. She couldn't acknowledge it, because acknowledging it, meant facing something she couldn't explain with logic, something her medic mind couldn't conceive. At the same time it had felt all too real to be just an hallucination.

She had thought about it nearly all night – and only managed to sleep a few hours before her other shift began – and the whole day. Yet as much as she thought about it she couldn't come to a conclusion apart from the fact that if it happened, she didn't know how to explain it. And that thought scared the hell out of her.

"Haruno-san? We can finish up here, your shift is nearly over right? Tsunade-sama told me to let you know you can get off a bit earlier, she is aware you haven't had much rest these days".

Sakura looked up startled, facing the nurse who was watching her with an expectant look waiting for an answer and for her to put down her tools. "Um… Sure, thanks. See you in a few days."

Sakura didn't take note of the responding smile the nurse sent to her, but quickly divested herself of the medical uniform as she left the room. Putting all her stuff away she stopped in her actions when a thought came to mind.

She had to try.

Decidedly she marched down the corridor, strode into the elevator and pressed the button for the last floor.

Hesitating she made her way onto the roof. It was just as it was the previous night, with the exception of the lone figure on the railing, who was missing. He told her he would come for her and as much as a part of her hoped to never be faced with him again and to realize this had been just a too realistic nightmare, another part was terrorized by the possibility of actually not seeing him ever again.

The moment she heard footsteps behind her, her heart stopped beating. What now? Why did she come up here? It was no good, she knew it. Nothing good could come out of her getting involved with him.

Nervously she turned around and met black eyes.

"Sakura. What are you doing here?"

Disappointment. That was the first emotion she felt, along with a heavy feeling in her heart.

"Sai. Nothing. Just watching the sundown. I'll be going now." And without giving the man the chance to answer she was jumping down the stairs, fighting the embarrassment and self-recrimination at being so stupid and believing in something that sounded like it was taken out a badly written romance movie.

Once at home she took a deep breath. She took out a bottle of red wine from the fridge, a glass and moved herself on her terrace. Sitting down on a reclining sofa and sipping her wine, she admired how the last rays of the sun disappeared on the horizon and let her mind swim away from all those dark and confusing thoughts.

* * *

Lifting his face from the neck of the man, he took care not to leave even a drop of blood on him – it would look suspicious if he found blood on his neck or shirt and didn't remember how it got there – he closed the wound with his tongue and then ordered. _You will wake up from the trance in a few minutes. All you will remember is that you and your friends had a bit too much to drink and you dozed off for a few minutes in the park. _

Moving his gaze around himself he perused the twelve or so boys scattered around him; he couldn't help it, normally he wouldn't need that much blood, but it was stronger than himself, when this time of the year came he needed it. As a matter of fact he had kept his eyes open for a big group, he wasn't sure he'd have been able to stop himself hadn't he had so many sources of nourishment.

Still as he tried to drown all thoughts in the rush of the hunt and the feeding, memories came unbounded to his mind, burdening him, making him restless. Even now, sated, with more blood than he needed in his system, he felt the need to slit more throats; his breath started to accelerate once more in rage.

But he couldn't. The more he fed, the more he lost himself in the feeling of it, the bigger became the chance of being caught. It would do his people no good if humans started to get suspicious, it was a rule, not to draw to much attention to themselves – after all their enemies were scattered all around the world. He forced himself to regain control and in a second he was in the air. It was easier in the form of fog not to think, not to feel his body's needs; the problem was those needs came directly from his troubled mind.

Nothing could reach him in these days, nothing could tear him away from the thirst, the rage, the sorrow. Nothing…

Still…

Something actually had managed to momentarily catch his attention, to momentarily divert it and have him breath, have him interested, have him react, have him _feel_.For the first time something other than his duty and his losses had captured his mind.

_Someone_ really.

He knew it wasn't a good idea to get close to that human girl. It was dangerous; being in any way linked to him assured people a whole lot of problems, and she wasn't even like him, she was a human and therefore even more vulnerable to the enemies from his world, she wouldn't survive. Yet it wasn't just the fact that he had enemies that made it dangerous for her. No. it was also the fact that he was as much a danger for her as his enemies where, if not more. He knew he was a complex being, he had issues, and he had power; power he not always controlled. It was a mistake to involve her in any way in his life.

She was also dangerous, in her own way. No one had ever gotten such reactions out of him: she had momentarily filled his mind with lightness, as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, just for a few seconds; he didn't know how she did it, but it was there. The relief, as he thought about her. He knew what had him stay on the roof and not take cover when she came – for a moment he had stopped caring – what he didn't know was what had him stay after, moreover what had him be so truthful and make him show her what he was, what stopped him from erasing her memory. Dangerous.

Still he couldn't refrain from stepping on the roof of the hospital scanning his surroundings. Her scent permeated the place, she had probably been there a few hours ago. With a man.

Sasuke tried not to dwell on that thought, instead he inhaled the scent he had already memorized the night before, and, against his better judgement, he changed his form again and flew off in the night, following the trail she left behind her.

He was an exceptional hunter, one of the best of his people, it was as easy as breathing for him, to ignore all other scents and concentrate only on hers. He let himself drown in it, he surrounded all his being with the sensation of her, and blindly followed the trail that lead to a house in the outskirts of the city.

If people had looked up in that moment they'd have had the peculiar view of a sparrow speed through the night sky. Speeding to reach her.

Sakura.

* * *

She was sleeping.

Not only that, she was sleeping outside, on her terrace, completely unaware of her surroundings, completely open for any attack. Anyone, human or not could easily take advantage of her in that state. He felt anger resurfacing. Anger at her, for being so oblivious, anger at the thought of someone attacking her, anger at himself for apparently caring if anything happened to her.

He drew nearer, stopping in front of the sofa, taking into notice the bottle and glass filled with wine, the bags under her eyes and the deep breaths that had her chest rise rhythmically.

He should let her sleep, it was obvious she was in need of rest, yet the thought of leaving, a sense of irritation awakened in him.

As he kept watching her, he thought about the better course of action. Simply leaving? Taking her inside? Waking her? And then what, tell her about himself? Why did she have such an impact on him, that he already wanted to include her in his life?

As if sensing his inner turmoil, she shifted in her seat, fighting to rise from her slumber.

He watched, rapt, as her eyes fluttered open revealing emerald orbs, that were at first unfocused, moving around as if searching for the cause of the disturbance in her sleep. Finally her eyes spotted his frame in front of her. Finally an alerted and completely awake gaze traced up his legs to his torso until she reached his face.

For a few seconds they watched one another, without so much as blinking.

Then hell broke loose.

"WHAT THE HEL L ARE YOU DOING HERE! How did you even get in my house? Scratch that. What kind of sick maniac are you to get into a girls house uninvited! Are you crazy?! OUT! Out of my house this instant! How is it even possible you are _alive_?! You fell down a seven floor building! And disappeared! Do you have even the slightest idea of how that affected my mental health yesterday and today?! What is this all? Some type of sick joke, you disappearing and appearing in places like a warlock?" she stopped to regain her breathing, but as she was about to start with her rambling again he ordered "Stop"

It was a command, not an invitation, a question, suggestion, it was a straight out order, one officers gave to their subordinates. Cold, made of steel and with a tone that expected obedience.

She didn't know where it came from, probably from her lost sleep, or from the wine, still the sound that came out of her mouth was an irritated : "Tch". Then for good measure she added "Are you used to immediate obedience from everyone you meet?"

He found himself nearly smiling in amusement, where was her preservation instinct? "Pretty much"

She tched again and frowning added "_So_ arrogant" Yep, the wine was doing something to her.

One corner of his lips lifted, as he moved himself to sit near her on the sofa, without interrupting their gaze lock he answered "That I am".

And as she sat there, watching him watch her, she slowly came to her senses, and came to realize a few things.

First off she was having a banter with the man who broke into her house.

Same man she had met the previous night, and who had behaved rather suspiciously.

Same man who was supposedly either dead or an hallucination.

So how was it that he was here know?

How did he even know where she lived?

Then his words came to mind again 'I'll come for you' 'Good thing I'm not human then'.

Slowly, ever so slowly panic aroused in her, like when during a tsunami the sea gradually retreats and then smashes back on the coast, it slowly built and then crashed on her nearly taking her breath away. Scrambling out of her seat she hastily stood up moving backwards until she felt the cold balustrade of her terrace against her back. Her breath came out quick, in pants, as if she had run a marathon, yet it was the panic, that had her gasping for breath, trying not to give herself a heart attack.

Only now did she realize fully the enormity of the situation.

"What do you want from me?" she whispered, barely recognising her own voice "Who are you? _What_ are you?"

His eyes narrowed. This wasn't good. In this state, there was no reasoning with her, still he tried "Sakura, you met me yesterday, and yesterday you weren't afraid of me. Sit down and I'll explain everything to you"

"No. No way am I coming near you. Why are you doing this to me?" she was more scared every minute, as the happenings of the last 24 hours actually reached her.

In the blink of an eye he was in front of her. Not giving her the chance to react, he swiftly grabbed her chin, having her watch him in the eyes. _You will calm down this instant, I am not going to hurt you. So you'll sit down with me now and let me explain._

Blinking Sakura suddenly found herself sitting cross-legged in the sofa facing the man that had kept her from sleeping the previous night; startled she asked "What did you do to me? A second ago I was terrorized a few metres from here, now I'm completely calm and back on the sofa."

He momentarily closed his eyes. Now was the moment. He could make her forget, before her memories of him became so many that traces inevitably remained in her mind, he could free her this moment; still that nagging feeling came back, compelling him to tell her about himself, about his race. It was crazy. Few humans knew of them, apart for those who tried hunting them, it was crazy to include this girl he barely knew anything about in his world.

But, somehow, he knew he needed her; her presence had a soothing effect on him, she enticed him, she amused him and he was steps away from giving it all up, from surrendering and leaving his people to their own devices. He opened his eyes, he had given all his existence to his clan, and now he needed something, someone, and he was an egoistic being, he knew that, but it was too hard to resist. Focusing his gaze to meet her expectant one, he had decided.

* * *

**Again review :)**

**How was it? Was it realistic enough?**

**I know this chapter most probably resulted in a filler, but I felt it was needed. I don't like those stories in which the fact that vampires exist is immediately accepted as if it's normal and a bit of background and thoughts had to be put in, in order to have the story proceed.**

**I also usually try to incorporate information into the dialogue, so as to not make it too heavy on the reader, but I couldn't prevent it in this chapter, I couldn't have them talk about what they were feeling with anyone else, but I promise in the future it's going to be different.**

**The next chapter is a much more interactional one :)… (I've already started writing it, I'm really proud of myself :3 )**

**So yeah you probably guessed it since I'm updating the second chapter, that the whole plot is more or less laid out. I don't know how many chapters will come out of it, my first intention was not to write a story of epic proportions with fifty or more chapters, but I've decided not to think ahead of myself. I won't rush this story, I'll go with the flow and we'll see how long it will get.**

**Keep following me! Thanks again for your support :)**

**-debs**


	4. Chapter 3

**Oh my god here it is :)**

**I put a lot of effort into this, I hope more people will start to follow it, and review.**

**I don't have many words this time, so just enjoy ;)**

**Tell me what you thought about it by leaving a review, they help me understand if you like where this is going :)  
**

**- this chapter is dedicated to Nejko and FairiesDescent for their constant support, thanks :) -**

**-debs**

* * *

She watched his face as he closed his eyes. No sign of imperfection marred his face, no scar, no skin defects; with his pale complexion he perfectly resembled those models from the magazines Ino always brought with her. She wondered what would come next, with an eerie calm that unnerved her. When he opened his eyes, noticing his determined look, the nervousness increased.

Analysing the emotions behind her eyes he insisted "Really, there is no need to be afraid, I mean you no harm. I told you"

Narrowing her eyes she couldn't help but reply "You didn't say anything! You didn't even move your lips, still how is it that I heard you perfectly?"

He sighed – this wasn't starting off the right way – "Alright, yeah. I didn't say it out loud. I thought it." Then he corrected himself, wanting to get things straight from the first moment "Better yet: what I did is called 'compulsion'. I have the ability to command you – command people – by sending a direct order through my thoughts. This order will stand for the amount of time I want it too, or only until situation at hand ends" he stilled waiting for a reaction.

But her brain had stopped working at the words 'through my thoughts'. Was he kidding her? Did he actually think he could trick her into believing in something like mind control? Such things didn't exist. And still, she had calmed down the moment he had told her to; not a doubt, not hesitating. Not even her own mother had ever calmed her down so quickly. Also, she was now convinced he wouldn't harm her, she had no doubt he only had good intentions. How was it possible he had gained her trust with one sentence?

But that wasn't the case. He didn't earn her trust. It was much simpler. She didn't fear anymore. She still was suspicious towards him, but she wasn't afraid.

Doubt started to fill her mind.

Could he possibly…?

She met his awaiting gaze, not sure how to respond to that, so she decided not to decide, and counteracted with another question "What about the jump? One moment you were there, the next you disappeared in thin air. How is that possible?"

He raised an eyebrow at her lack of answer to his previous statement, but ignored it for the moment, giving her the time to let everything sink in. Cautious he answered her question, knowing that if mind control was something slightly more believable for her human brain, shape shifting wasn't, "I changed. With that I mean that my physical traits changed, my body dissolved itself into another form, in that case into light fog"

She decided she had gone crazy. She should probably reconsider the hallucination theory, maybe it was the stress, or she was in a coma and now dreaming all this. So deciding to throw it all away she asked "You have other abilities except for these?"

Yet another non-reaction. This was suspicious, this was not how he expected her to react. Still he went with the flow "A lot. Bigger strength for one. And enhanced smell, among others; that is how I found your house, to answer your previous question." Then his eyes narrowed remembering her speech "And I am no sick maniac, I told you I'd be back for you, it is your fault for doubting me and not expecting my arrival"

Her eyes widened in offense, that was really enough, who did he think he was? "My fault! How is this my fault? How could I expect your arrival if the last time I saw you, you jumped down a building! I thought you were either dead or an hallucination, and right now I'm tending to believe the last one to be correct"

He cocked his head with an equally offended look "You do not believe me to be real?"

"Would you believe yourself if you were in my place?"

Suddenly his offended look faded into a mischievous one "Well I guess you just need more proof" in the span of a second she had been lifted and now found herself standing in front him, with his hands on her waist. He smirked expectantly at her, at which she raised an eyebrow "So? Where is this proo.." as her eyes took in the scenery behind him she chocked on her own words. She could see half of Konoha behind his figure, the lights of the buildings creating a soft glow that had his face half illuminated half shadowed; in that moment all the strange things he had done and said nearly seemed real, as if part of that atmosphere.

Finally turning around she realized where exactly she was standing. On her roof, in precarious balance on her chimney. A startled gasp left her, and she grabbed his shirt pressing herself against him "Wha… How?"

His arms circled her waist, to give her the sensation of safety, to let her know he wouldn't let her fall. With a small smirk he asked "Is this enough? Shall we get back down?" unable to form words she just frantically nodded her head. As he bend his legs to jump she closed her eyes and when she opened them she found herself back on her terrace. Well not quietly. They were standing on the railing. Was that a bad habit of his?

Tightening his hold on her he rotated, so her feet were dangling over the railing, several feet over the earth "So do you need more proof?" he asked teasingly. She knew he wouldn't drop her, but she couldn't help her accelerated heartbeat as she thought of the various possible outcomes of a fall from that height, her mind was quickly categorizing all of them with added therapy and what permanent damage would result of each one. Her hands immediately reached even higher, anchoring herself at his neck she tried to push herself even nearer to his body, the nearer she was the safest she felt from falling down, at least if he decided to lessen his hold on her she'd be able to keep herself up; she tried to ignore the way his body felt against hers, concentrating on the danger at hand. As her hands took place around his neck she hastily answered "No! I believe you! I believe you! Put me down!".

He smirked. With a small flexing of his legs he bought them back on the safe floor of her terrace, slowly - reluctantly - releasing her from his embrace, to be sure she could stand on her own. Carefully he released her from his command too, and warily watched her reaction. Now she had full control again.

She panted trying to calm her heart down, at the same time she watched him, the man who had just jumped on her roof with her in his arms as if it was nothing. She couldn't do this, she was going mental.

Then, as she managed to even her breath a bit, his words repeated themselves in her head once more 'good thing I'm not human then'. No human, even considering all the strange things that happened on earth, was able to pull such a stunt. She raised her eyes to meet his gaze in realization and her just calmed heart started beating fast again.

"You told me… but you…" swallowing she hesitated before picking up all her courage and continued "You're not human then?"

She was recovering rather quickly from the jump, he mused "Not quite"

She swallowed once more "What are you then?" she repeated the question he had left unanswered a few moments before, with an uneasy feeling as she waited for his answer.

He pondered on how to answer that one without scaring the hell out of her or making her doubt him again "I'm part of an ancient race, as I told you I am granted very special abilities. Very few humans know of our existence and fewer accept us, the others see us as a threat and therefore hunt us down" he stopped momentarily, allowing a small smirk to appear on his face "Well, they 'try to'. For the rest of the world we only exist in tales"

"So there are others like you" she extrapolated from his explanation. She was trying to concentrate on the dialogue, on the words, to keep the fear she felt in herself at bay.

"Yes, there are"

"So let me get this straight: you are different, and so is your kin. You all have more strength and whatnot. Practically you're some type of super power being." She seemed to think for a moment, and then he observed as she raised her big naïve - in his opinion - eyes towards him "Like superman?"

He actually chuckled at that, he was beginning to see the good in telling her about himself "Let's just say most people don't describe us as such, we're mostly pictured as dark creatures, roving the night, tempting young ladies and so on. As a matter of fact we're not half as bad as your people depict us, well most of us aren't"

She actually took the time to think about this, as if it could be possible, and her mind slowly digested the information and connected the dots, remembering how he talked about hunting and about the night; then furrowing her eyebrows she asked what she thought a ridiculous question, under normal circumstances those words would have never gotten out of her mouth, but as it was, the situation was so absurd even her fear started to lessen in favour of trying to understand what was actually happening "You're not vampires right?"

He shifted, now, he really didn't want to answer that question, he planned to explain to her exactly what he was, the essence of his kin, before telling her what people – what they themselves – called them "Not quite" he answered once more.

She raised her eyebrows "Not quite? Oh please, tell me you don't call yourselves vampires, because that's just straight out ridiculous. Vampires don't exist. It's just bedtime stories for kids, and the dream of screaming teenagers."

He was throughout offended, although none of that showed on his face "We are not mythical creatures!"

"Oh no? then _what_ are you?"

He narrowed his eyes at her smart mouth , he sat back down on the sofa, preparing to explain the whole story, seeing as she had anticipated the 'vampire' part "As I said, my race is very ancient. The first name that was given to us was Akhkharu, that is what Sumerians called us, it means 'blood drinker'; the first vampires were actually humans originally. These humans were experimenting on how to lengthen the lifespan of all men, and make them stronger. They experimented on themselves, using every kind of chemicals they could get their hands on, mixed with meditation and rituals. In the end, some of them were able to slow down their system, their heart, their metabolism, to the point in which ageing was completely stopped. Due to the chemicals used in addition to meditation, they gained a better knowledge of their own body and mind. You know of how men only use ten per cent of their brain; well, potentially, you are all able to do what we do. Those chemicals gave them the awareness of what they could do, like converse through psychic ways, or manipulate the molecules of things, to change them. Of course this all came with a price. You as a doctor can imagine most of them: were the chemicals made their mind and body stronger, they couldn't help in the making of some of the body's components, like melanin for one, in which case they were therefore left with low tolerance to the sun's damaging rays; also seeing as the metabolism is slowed down, human's way of feeding wasn't enough for them anymore, because it wasn't digested and absorbed fast enough, from there came the need to drink blood in addition, to give the body and organs the necessary sustenance already ready for use, and after some time the body itself requested it."

She could, at the same time, see and not see how this worked. Of course from an hypothetical point of view all of his examples could be scientifically correct, still it was unheard of, and in her opinion impossible too, to manipulate one's own body to the point of stopping ageing; she wasn't even starting to take into consideration the brain statement. Brain was one of the mysteries that had always fascinated her. She became a medic to understand better how such a complex thing as the human body could work, but she never even dreamed of coming to a full understanding of the human brain. What he was talking about was incredible, it went beyond craziness. He was insane. And yet, the slight possibility that what he was saying could be somewhat true, had her heart nearly stop beating.

"This is not possible" she stared at him as he sat on the sofa, sipping from her glass of vine "It is not!"

"It most certainly is" he answered in a placated tone as he put her glass, now empty, on the small table next to the sofa.

She narrowed her eyes, feeling anger surfacing in her, she felt as if he was making a fool out of her, was he kidding her? Was this all a big joke? "It is not! If it were, then pray tell how is it that no one has ever heard about it?" She neared the seat, standing directly in front of his relaxed form "How is it that we are not all vampires?"

He could see it in her eyes. She thought she had won. She had that glint in her eyes that hinted at great satisfaction with her last conclusion mixed with anger at realizing – wrongly assuming – that he had played her. She truly was one of a kind. Well he hadn't really spent much time with humans in the last centuries, but he didn't believe they were all like her "That is because my story isn't finished." He abruptly seized her wrist and pulled her on the sofa next to him: she was tired, it would do her no good to go on with the conversation keeping on standing. He released her hand skimming it until only their fingertips were touching and then he let his hand fall back on the sofa – she tried to ignore tingling that persisted on her fingers even after his hand had left – "As I said, only some of them were able to obtain that result. Lots died in the process of subjecting themselves to this chemicals. Still, even if they had succeeded, there was no way to trace what combination of chemicals had brought them to that result. Thus the only way to give their gift to others too, was to inject them with their blood, that already contained the chemicals."

"That still doesn't explain a thing!" we was growing more exasperated by the moment. Then a hand was lightly lain on her lips to halt her words. Her heartbeat accelerated as she met the eyes of the hand's owner. Very narrowed and irritated eyes.

"Would you let me finish?" he waited until he was sure she would keep still, and then removed his hand, settling it on the sofa next to her shoulder "As I was saying, they found a way to change others. Fate had it that only few were able to bear the change; for they needed to be able to adapt their body quickly to the much lower rhythm of their body, and they had to do it quicker than the original ones had done it – who had had years to accomplish the task – ,also they had to adapt to the changes the chemicals were doing to them. It follows that only those with strong will and greater endurance were able to bear the changing and survive the first month of their new life. Also, seeing as there were so many deaths, no one wanted to try and become like them anymore, quite content to live their life as it was. A part of the people started viewing those 'scientists' as monsters and killers. And so , with time, people forgot about them, viewing them as legends, and those who remembered started hunting them."

She was tired now. Too many things had happened all at once, and all of it was surreal. Her head was exploding from all the strange information and events of the last few hours. She was so tired she was one step away from agreeing with him. Sighing she closed her eyes, leaning her head against the back of the sofa "I can't do this right now".

Ah. There it was, at least some kind of normal reaction. He guessed it all had to sink in before she would properly freak out. It had been after all a lot to digest, should he have gone with a different kind of approach? Well it was too late now, but even if it wasn't, there was no other way to tell her. There was no easy way. He couldn't have explained it one piece at a time, it would have been even more confusing and scary. He guessed it would take a bit for her to accept all he had told her. He'd have to follow her closely and avoid losing contact, it would do him no good if she started again with her 'hallucination-theory', also he feared, losing contact for too much would have her fall into fear again; she had to get used to him, before he could trust himself to leave her completely alone. She was one little strange crazy thing, he thought already fondly.

He studied her features, wondering how something so small and innocent could be so many surprising things. As he watched her face he noticed something else. She fell asleep.

For the first time in a lot of time he felt the need to laugh out loud, but he restrained himself and lowly chuckled. How could she fall asleep next to a man she had only moments before discovered was a vampire? No matter how tired she was – both emotionally and physically if the bags under her eyes were of any indication – she should have a bigger sense of self preservation.

He was pleased. Really pleased. For his order had been lifted the moment they were back on the terrace, and it seemed the panic that had taken her the first moments she saw him didn't resurface. She hadn't been terrorized, of course she feared him somehow, but it was not panic, and it hadn't been an order that had permitted this. With a hand he moved some strands of hair away from her face. This small, fragile being. It was astounding how many emotions she was able to inspire in him. Just holding her on her roof had been exhilarating, the way her hands crumpled his shirt, the feel of her arms around his neck afterwards on the railing, and he wasn't even starting with the softness of her lips: he didn't remember when he last felt _that_ kind of hunger.

The blood thirst that had possessed him until a few hours before was momentarily quenched; he wasn't exactly at peace, he hadn't been since his childhood, and that was really more than a few centuries away, but he surely was more at peace than he remembered being in a long time.

He had been right in deciding to include her in his life. He still wasn't sure what role she'd play in it, but for now she seemed to have a good effect on him, and frankly he was tired of feeling bad, alone, he was tired of the darkness, of the weight on his shoulders, he needed her light, her innocence, her acceptance of life. 'Your life is worth living' she had said to him 'Look around yourself: isn't the world beautiful?' he needed to see things the way she saw them.

And for once, just for once, he wanted to indulge himself.

* * *

She was dreaming. Or wasn't she?

The insistent knocking and ringing at her door told her she was definitely not dreaming. Not anymore at least.

A remote part of her brain was repeating the words 'Ino. SPA. Ino. SPA.' But she didn't heed it, because there was a more insistent part of her brain that tried to attract her attention. She knew it was something important, something scary, something that she partially didn't want to remember.

More ringing.

She slightly opened her eyes taking in the azure sky. It couldn't be eight o'clock yet, judging by the colour of the sky; that alone was strange, not the fact that it was early – she was after all a medic who could be called in at any time and she also had a pretty idiotic friend – but the fact that she could see the sky; she usually closed the curtains in her room, and even if she hadn't, the view from her window surely wasn't that vast. She tried shifting and found the motion hard to complete, she felt strangely heavy, lowering her eyes she noticed a dark manly coat covering her. Even stranger.

More knocking.

Suddenly a face obscured her view.

Sasuke.

She smiled in recognition, so he had taken care of her for the night. How sweet.

Then other words came to mind.

Jump.

Roof.

Chimney.

Vampire.

Her eyes widened, finally full awake, and she squeaked, scrambling away from him curling in one corner of the sofa, staring at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

He chuckled at her reaction and with warm eyes he asked "Shouldn't you answer the door?"

Her eyes managed to widen even more "Shit! Ino!" she rushed off the sofa and darted into her living room. Nearly three steps in she remembered him. Turning around to face the balcony she ordered "You! Quickly hide. Or fly off, I don't know, do as you want, just disappear" the order was given to thin air, for he had already disappeared. Her heart hammered, this was absurd. Fear started to sneak up on her.

More ringing and knocking.

She didn't have the time for fear. Outside that door, hell itself awaited her.

With a deep breath she neared the door to be faced with one of the few things in the world that could make her want to hide in a dark corner and never come out of her house again.

A pissed off Ino.

* * *

**So yeah, as I said, more interaction.**

**First off I'd like to point out something before you start with me:**

**1) I know the 'only 10% of the brain' is a myth, I researched, but I'm taking a poetic licence here, just pretend it's true…**

**2) I've read different articles that affirm the Akhkharu is bullshit and it doesn't mean bloodsucker nor is it related in any way to vampires, other say it is, so again poetic licence: in my story it is true…**

**3) I realize it that my explanation of how vampires were born isn't infallible and a lot of points would make it fall, but remember there are chemicals involved and it is fiction, I liked the explanation ( did you? ), I enjoyed making it seem scientifically possible, instead of going for the 'magic' explanation, and again poetic licence :)**

**Did you enjoy it? I worked hard, let me know your opinion.**

**Review follow and fav**

**-debs**


	5. Chapter 4

**Here's the 4****th**** chapter, it took me longer this time sorry:) but my excuse is that I had an accident with my scooter two days from now and didn't manage to finish the chapter that day – as I intended – because it hurt at first typing. **

**Thank you for your reviews :) I hope you like this chapter**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

When she opened the door, she nearly wished she hadn't.

Ino's face was about to explode, she could see imaginary smoke come out of her ears and nose. Bracing herself for the impact, Sakura closed her eyes and tried to make herself as inconspicuous as possible without actually moving.

"What. The. Hell. Forehead girl! I've been waiting out here for ages, and look at you! You're not even ready to go! Look at that hair! And your clothes! You are late and it's not even because you were getting ready! Now you're going to make me wait more! I'd kill you right now if it didn't mean we'd be even later for out appointment at the SPA! Now go, go, go! Wash, dress! Quickly!"

Ino started pushing Sakura inside her own house, and the latter thanked the gods for her precognition, for before she had opened the door she had thought of hiding _his_ coat away from Ino's prying eyes, which meant inside the washing machine: that was one of the places Ino would never put her hands into.

She dressed and washed as if she had been called by the hospital for an emergency, and in a few minutes she was ready to go.

She wondered if it was medically possible for her right arm to become longer than her left one, because at the rate Ino was pulling her towards the car, she was starting to get concerned. "Hurry it up, we are already late by five minutes! Do you want me to die? Have you seen the state in which my face is in? Come on forehead!" Oh she was such a drama queen!

As Ino pushed Sakura into the passenger seat of her car she asked "What took you so long anyway?"

"What?" Sakura exclaimed "It took me only three minutes to wash and change! Now you're really exaggerating, you stupid pig!"

For that one last comment Sakura received a pinch on her left arm "Ow!"

"I meant to open the door! I told you we'd be heading off early today, and you know I hate waiting, AND you know it's most important I get my facial done! I feel bad! Really bad!

Sakura gazed at the perfectly fine face of an irritable Ino who had started her car and drew off. Sakura sighed "Sorry. I had a late shift yesterday and then fell asleep in the balcony, so I couldn't hear your knocking at first." She didn't mention Sasuke – obviously – nor the fact that she had had to take off his coat and skilfully hide it – Ino had sparrow's eyes. She also knew there was no reasoning with Ino before she had gone to her weekly SPA tour.

"What?! You fell asleep outside. Again?! Seriously forehead you're crazy! Anything could happen to you, what if some sick maniac tried to get to you through your balcony? What then! Hmm?"

She turned her head at those specific words so quickly that her neck made a snapping sound.

Seeing her pale face from the corner of her eyes Ino's brows furrowed "What? You look as if you've seen a ghost"

Quickly regaining control over herself Sakura shook her head "N-No, nothing".

After a few minutes of silence they stopped at a café and took two coffees to drink in the car. After ingesting some caffeine Sakura felt fairly better.

"So" Ino started, also in a better mood "You're free for the next few days right?"

"Yeah. Tsunade-sama ordered me a vacation, it's four days counting today. She deemed it necessary for my own health" Sakura sighed raking a hand through her hair.

Ino sighed too, but in a scolding way "I'd say so! You work nonstop, seriously you need to breathe a little, and maybe know some people. I'm the only real friend you have left"

"Don't stress Ino-pig, Tsunade-sama already does enough. Besides you know that the hospital is my life, taking care of others is what makes me feel good."

"I know. That doesn't make it healthy, forehead" she murmured.

Sakura looked out of the window refusing to answer.

* * *

She nearly moaned, she had to admit sometimes Ino was right.

As she was having made a manicure, pedicure and a facial all at once she admitted this was something she needed, her pleasure diminished however once Ino opened her mouth "Well since you have these free days I've got a program for you"

Sakura groaned, she knew this was going to end up badly "No, Ino really, don't start any schedule because I'm not doing it again!"

Ino tched dismissively "Oh shush forehead, it's too late anyway, tomorrow evening we're attending the annual party held by the Sabaku family, so we are also going dress shopping this afternoon. Then we have to go clubbing at least once and the other day is all for you" she finished satisfied with her plan.

Sakura nearly growled "How gentle of you to grant me one day to decide how I'm going to spend MY free time. And I'm not going" now her fun was utterly ruined

"Hey, no foul mood! I already talked to Temari and she's expecting you to come so it's not like you have a choice" Ino answered smugly.

Sakura groaned again.

* * *

"So what kind of dress were you thinking of? I think I'm going for blue, you know eyes and all. What about you?" Ino munched on her salad. "Oh, Kaito is escorting me to the dance, we need to find you a partner too! Who would you like to have as a partner? I think Kaito mentioned he has a colleague who is single at the moment. How does that sound?"

"I'm not going" Sakura candidly replied as she popped in her mouth a bit of lasagne. She knew she had no choice, the Sabaku were old family friends, it would be rude no to show up, especially after Ino said she would; she glared at her once more. Oh the pain her best friend could be sometimes.

"Yeah. Yeah" Ino waved her hand dismissively, then she got distracted by a text on her phone. Excitedly she turned towards Sakura "It's Kaito! Mind if I call him? I'll just be a few seconds" Sakura nodded knowing she'd be left here for the next thirty minutes. This on and off thing Ino had with Kaito was really something Sakura couldn't even start to comprehend.

Munching her lunch she wondered herself what colour to wear at the ball. And also how to get Ino off her back with the whole 'partner' thing.

"I think red would suit you"

Sakura jumped in her seat, making the table tremble and her glass of water fell over showering Ino's salad.

She looked up and met deep onyx.

Sasuke was calmly sitting in the seat Ino had vacated moments before. With his tight black shirt and his usual good looks he could pass for a model quite easily.

"You nearly gave me an earth attack! What the hell!" she shrieked, then she regained herself and narrowed her eyes, leaning over the table, closer to him she hissed "What are you doing here?!"

He met her half way over the table "Did you really think I'd let you off this easily? I need to make sure you don't spill all I have said to you to other people"

She gasped "So you've been following me?!"

He ignored her outburst "Besides you don't believe me and you are afraid of me, I need to keep an eye on you, wouldn't want you to shrug it all off to being a dream or a hallucination again, hmm?"

"What the hell?! You are incredible" then she stopped and really looked at him, with one raised eyebrow she continued "Besides aren't you supposed to burn in the sun's light?" she very nearly wished he would.

He furrowed his eyebrows in disgust "What? I said we have low tolerance to sunlight, not that we burn!"

"Well excuse Mr _Vampire_!" she whispered the world 'vampire' putting emphasis on it.

He understood her allusion "Contrary to what human believe vampires are not affected by sunlight. Nor crucifies or garlic result in repellent. These are all simply myths we spread to feed false information to any vampire slayers and humans in general. So that we are underestimated." He explained.

"Thank you for the lesson. Still you don't need to follow me. No wait. You _mustn't_ follow me. You don't have any right to. Besides I'm not going to tell anyone, I don't want to be taken as a fool" and she herself didn't want to think about it, if it as true or false, she didn't want to know. Especially because thinking about what he told her also meant thinking about the strange sensations his touch ignited in her. She didn't want to feel comfortable in his arms, safe and protected in his company, she didn't want to feel that strange tingling in her stomach when his fingers so much as brushed her.

"Too bad for you then" he answered smirking, then he stood up "Anyway, I just came to tell you, you should buy a red one, I think it would flatter your complexion and your hair" he finished, twirling a strand of her hair between his fingers, letting it fall again he walked away.

"Oh" Sakura tensed up again not turning around to face him "Tell your friend you already have a partner for the party tomorrow. Me"

When she turned around startled at his words he had already disappeared.

"Forehead what did you do!" Sakura stared at Ino with a dazed look.

"Ino, I have a partner for the dance"

* * *

"Are you sure? Really it's no problem for me to take you home" and here was Ino motherly version.

"Really Ino, I'll take the bus, it'll take me twenty minutes or so to reach home. You go on and meet with Kaito." Ino seamed still a bit unsure "Go! Come on" Ino smiled "Alright ne safe. Call me when you arrive home, it's late and it's already dark. Don't make me worry"

"Sure" Sakura answered while hugging her friend "See you tomorrow"

Ino smirked with a knowing look and walked away waving with a last "You'll have to tell me who it is tomorrow!".

Sakura sighed, she had had fun with Ino, even with her controlling personality she knew she was her other half. They complemented each other. She turned around and saw her bus coming her way. As she stepped on it she nearly wished she had taken up Ino's offer, the only other passenger was a guy – a punk –, who seemed a bit older than her, with grey hair and a pair of glasses. She preferred it when the bus was a bit more filled, it gave her the creeps to travel alone in a public mean of transport, maybe it was the influence of all the horror movies Sai and Ino always forced her to watch.

She sat some seats behind the boy on the other row of seats, it might seem paranoid, but it would do no harm to keep an eye on him without giving him the chance to look at her.

After the first five minutes she relaxed, seeing as he hadn't made a move to turn around. She turned towards the window, wondering if _he_ would appear again tonight. She shook her head, she didn't want him to come. And yet she couldn't help the disappointment at the thought that he might not come, the same disappointment she had felt on the roof when she had found it empty. She sighed frustratingly, she hadn't known him for more than a few days and yet her thoughts already automatically gravitated around him. _He_ was dangerous.

"Hey there"

She jumped in her seat for the second time that day. Swivelling her head around she met black eyes.

"Sorry I'm not in the mood right now" and she turned towards the window in the hope he would take the hint and leave.

"Come on don't be like this!" he insisted and was about to sit down when a hand stopped him.

A dark dangerous voice made its way to her ears "I believe she isn't interested"

She twisted her head around again – she'd have a sore neck the next day with all the head turning – and saw as the grey haired man stumbled back in fear and sat back down in his seat. Turning her eyes towards her saviour she couldn't help but gape as he neared her and made himself comfortable in the seat next to hers leaning his arm on her seatback, effectively taking her under his arm without touching her.

Only then did he meet her gaze and smirking he said "Hey there"

She realised she was still gaping at him so she closed her mouth but kept staring at him.

"What?" he asked noticing her strange behaviour.

She shook her head "I'll have to give it to you this time. Thank you, that was really appreciated."

His eyes lit up "Your welcome" he whispered leaning nearer to her so that his breath caressed his face as he talked, and let his arm fall down on her shoulders pulling her against himself.

Sakura blushed. She couldn't help herself, despite everything he had told and showed her, despite her mind warning her against him, despite the fact that he had been following e the whole day like a stalker, she couldn't refrain from feeling light and warm pressed like that against him.

That reminded her "You! You kept on following me!"

He merely watched her in silence without answering, amusement clear in his eyes.

But that was enough "You did! The whole afternoon! What part of 'you mustn't follow me' escapes you?"

"The whole concept of it actually" he answered lightly "Besides I told you I needed to keep an eye on you, I never said I wouldn't keep on following you after lunch"

"You're an arrogant, self-righteous, pretentious being" Sakura muttered under her breath.

"That I am" of course he heard her.

"Don't sound so smug about it" she slapped lightly his shoulder.

He chuckled "Sorry."

They stayed in silence for the rest of the ride and Sakura noticed the type of before didn't dare turn his head again even once. She guessed Sasuke's presence had after all some good effects. She unconsciously snuggled more against him, feeling the need for some reassurance, as she thought things over for the umpteenth time, and despite what she told him the night before, she really couldn't bring herself to believe him, despite all she had seen she couldn't accept what she had been put in front of.

As she mused she missed his small smile at her unconscious move, and he tightened his hold on her, revelling on the feeling of her in his arms.

The move seemed to pull her out of her reveries and she turned her head to watch him, after a few seconds she narrowed her "What are you doing?"

Was she really crazy? She was the one who had snuggled up to him and now she complained about him returning the gesture?

When he didn't answer the question she elaborated "What is your stop?"

He was stunned for a few seconds, and then smirked realising _what_ she was actually complaining about, he trailed his hand up and down her left shoulder "Whichever yours is"

She narrowed her eyes more, although she couldn't help the little blush that spread on her cheeks at the feel of his hand caressing her "You are planning to come to my house again, aren't you?"

He simply watched her with an impish smirk on his face. Then he turned around and suddenly released her standing up and offering her a hand to get up "I believe this is it"

He was right, she didn't even notice the bus stopping, when she turned to the stranger she found him asleep with his head against the window. Turning to Sasuke she realised he wasn't giving her any room to get up without accepting his help. Looking away she put her hand in his cold one – 'probably caused by the nearly absent blood circulation' she unconsciously thought – and let herself be pulled in a standing position in front of him.

He didn't release her then, instead turning around and making his way towards the exit with her on tow firmly anchored to him. Once outside she took a deep breath, filling her lungs with cool air, trying to shake away the tension in her. Detaching her hand from his, she turned towards a dark road making way for her self-invited guest. The walk was made in silence, with her feeling his eyes roam her figure, and therefore feeling the tension reappearing. She sighed in relief when her home came into view.

Hurriedly she got to the door and opened it stepping inside. At that point a thought came to mind, that scared her with the realisation of where her thoughts now automatically went and made her nearly feel comforted.

She turned around and looked as Sasuke made his way behind her. As he stepped into the foyer she let out an affronted huff.

Meeting his questioning gaze she couldn't help herself "I didn't invite you in! Shouldn't you not be able to get in without my invitation?!"

He couldn't help himself, her words accompanied with that affronted look were just too much, he laughed. An actually deep, low laugh, that ended seconds after it started. He went past her and found his way to the kitchen moving to sit on a stool. Raising his gaze he saw with a smirk she had followed him as if she was lost in her own home.

He supposed he owed her the answer "It's a myth. One of those I told you we spread to make humans feel safer and underestimate us"

She regained control of herself and murmured "Clever" and started to move around in her kitchen to prepare something to eat for dinner.

"Yes, we are that too" he answered smugly "You have no idea how much"

She frowned, hearing the strange note in his voice and stopped her movements "What do you mean?"

He turned to her, leaning his back and elbows against the table behind him "You cook, I tell" he didn't want her to end up famished.

She started taking out some flesh and other ingredients "Would you like some steak? Are you hungry for food?" she asked in curiosity, he told her human food wasn't enough anymore, but did they eat it anyway?

"I'm hungry for a lot of things right now" he answered giving her an all-over, he didn't know what had him flirt with her, it wasn't in his character, yet the reaction he brought in her with his flirting was simply endearing. He watched for a bit how she blushed and stuttered not knowing how to respond, and then decided to take pity on her "Yes thank you, it'll be a pleasure to join you for dinner. Rare for me please" he added with a wicked look.

She took the chance and turned around making herself busy with cooking. He chuckled lowly and then started talking "You see, vampires come with the ability to hide themselves and their motives. They also come with a sense of command and with more intelligence than humans' . You can see then, how –obviously – vampires gained knowledge faster than humans. Of course there were – and are – humans who did extraordinary things, but most of the discoveries and achievements attributed to humans were actually the work of vampires" She turned around with a sceptical look on her face, as she set the steaks in a pan. "You see, the first communities of vampires are those you call 'cannibals', nowadays there still are vampires who decided to stay out of civility and return to their origins, they mostly feed on animals and some human they come across once in a while, why do you think they let themselves be filmed for television documentaries? That's also called hunting. A whole troupe of humans staying with them for a few weeks can keep them sated for quite a bit" he said with a smirk on his face.

Now she turned around completely "Those are vampires?!"

He nodded and then continued "Well once they started evolving, they used their advanced knowledge and technology to rule over humans, becoming the pharaohs and kings of civilizations such as the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman empires. Under their rule the world entered into a golden age; science, technology, arts and architecture made enormous steps forward because of the vampires' influence. While humans were discovering what fire was, vampires were building an empire." He stopped momentarily, waiting to see if she had anything to say to that; but she was too stunned at what he was saying, so he continued "The vampires had a monarchy government, when the current king would die his son/daughter would rule. However, vampires are immortal so they took turns ruling. One member of the royal family would be in charge of the kingdom for the course of a human life and then the next family member would take his place for another cycle, and so on. Eventually humanity, rose up against the vampires and overthrew them. You know the whole revolution thing, it started in America and then continued into France and slowly to the whole world. But it's mostly an illusion. Vampires still occupy positions of power and influence in the world, and in some places they still rule the country."

She brought their plates on the table "That is… incredible, absurd… I don't really know what to say to that"

"I guess it takes a bit to digest everything" he conceded starting to eat.

Dinner was quiet, and Sakura ate without really noticing what she was doing. Her thoughts were full of what he had said to her and she was trying to sort everything out, to have it make sense. She took the plates to the sink leaving them there for the next morning to do, still thinking about it.

When she turned around she noticed he had disappeared from the kitchen. Wandering into her living room she noticed the curtains were moving because of the wind. He was outside, standing on the balcony and observing the night. He looked so much like that night in which they met each other; she leant against the door simply watching him.

When he turned around she shivered at the lonely, anguished look in his eyes, it made her want to comfort him. Noticing her shiver he neared her murmuring "Let's go inside, it's a chilly night" and he turned her around by the shoulders pushing her then inside with a light touch on her lower back.

They sat on her sofa in the living room, after Sasuke closed the balcony door, and Sakura folded her legs under herself curling up, feeling strangely melancholic all of a sudden. She could feel Sasuke's eyes tracing her, but wasn't able to meet his gaze, in fear of seeing that torment in his eyes again.

"This is quite a big house, even for a doctor. You must be rich by family" she raised her eyes at his unformulated question, his eyes were back to their black inexpressiveness, although she noted they warmed somehow after she stared at him for a bit too much. Clearing her throat she answered "Yes, my family has always been quite wealthy, my parents business in the medical field only increased their wealth. This house was theirs." She looked fondly around, the place in which all her memories from childhood resided. "They died a few years ago. A car crash, the road was poorly illuminated and my father ended up missing a curve and went straight down a cliff" what was it in him that had her talk about such a private and tormenting thing with such ease?

She wondered why he suddenly tensed up that much. Then he closed his eyes taking a deep breath, and opening them she could see a glimpse of the earlier sadness veil his eyes "I'm sorry".

She smiled sadly and then tried to change the topic to lift the mood a bit "So yeah. I wouldn't really need to work. I could spend all my days on a beach in Honolulu, should I want to." She ended with a playful smile, that was meant to push away the sadness.

He followed her lead, but asked seriously "Why do you work then?" he was positively intrigued.

Her smile turned soft "I love it. I love what I do. I love helping others, knowing that thanks to me someone was able to live one more day, I love seeing the look in people's eyes when I tell them they're good to go. Of course it's not everything a bed of roses. But I don't shy away from the bad things, I also find satisfaction in accompanying them to the end, in the most pain free possible way. It's what I do. It keeps me going. It keeps me from thinking too much sometimes. It makes me feel like I'm not only living for myself, but for others too." She looked at him and her smile widened "Because I love it."

She was beautiful. In that moment the enormity of her beauty was astounding, he knew she was a selfless person from the moment he met her, he just didn't realise how… how beautiful she was. Automatically he leaned in, placing a hand on her cheek. He could only think of her at that moment and the need to kiss her was nearly stronger than anything else he had felt until then. He moved his thumb back and forward caressing her skin. He was one breath away from touching his lips to hers.

And then he felt her heart. It was running wild, and in that moment he realised she was right. He had no right to do this. Not yet anyway. Not when she was still slightly scared of him, not when she didn't quite believe him yet, not when she was so confused. Kissing her now would confuse her even more.

When he sighed, his breath brushed her lips and she shivered in anticipation. She didn't know what had him do such an action all of a sudden, but she couldn't do anything else than accept this contact, his touch. She was drawn to him. Then his hold on her shifted, he used his hand on her cheek to move her head slightly towards her left. At that point he leant in completely and pressed a kiss – a simple touch of his lips – on the skin right under her chin, where her neck began.

"It's late, you should rest. I'll see you tomorrow"

When she opened her eyes he was gone, and she was alone in her living room.

* * *

**There! **

**How was it? **

**Hope you like it, please review :)**

**-debs**


	6. Chapter 5

**We are starting on some kind of flash back or thinking, because the last chapter was mainly from Sakura's point of view, which I think will be anyway mostly predominant in this story, but here are Sasuke's thoughts on the happenings of the last chapter :) also this one will be a bit more Sasuke-centred. The links to the dresses are on my profile, but you can imagine whichever dress you want to, I'm not into describing to the detail how they're dressed, it puts me off when I read stories.**

**ALSO I made a MISTAKE, a huge one, I forgot I wanted to come up with a OC character as Ino's date, cause it isn't supposed to play a big part in the story, HENCE Shino isn't her guy, you'll find him in this chapter but he has no connection with Ino whatsoever, I changed the name in the last chapter. **

**Thanks and sorry :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

She really was a strange creature: he had found it particularly amusing watching her as she hurried through the house with his coat in her hands. What was she doing? Why was she putting his coat in the washing machine? He was positive it wasn't dirty or anything. When she opened the door he realized why, her friend was an obvious prying person, and funnily enough the only place she didn't examine was the laundry room, which she glared at with repulsion, she obviously didn't wash her own clothes. Observing the strange behaviour of this 'Ino-pig' he kind of understood were their friendship came from.

Following her the whole day gave him the impression of having taken on a fulltime job, he had smirked when that thought had crossed his mind. He watched her the whole day doing girly activities and yet he didn't feel bored or irritated, it was interesting watching her while she was in her own element, when she was relaxed and openly laughed or argued with her friend; he did, however, get irritated when talk of a partner for a party reached his ears. As a matter of fact he had received an invitation for the Sabaku gala, yet he never took part in these kind of events. Well it seemed he'd have to change some of his habits.

His mood immediately lifted when he talked to her, maybe it was the environment, or maybe she was starting to get used to him, but she was more relaxed about his approach, she even reprimanded him about following her around. The minute she sat down he materialized on the bus, in a dark corner; he observed her for a few minutes as she relaxed in her seat. He couldn't have, however, that _boy_ importune her like that, and although he openly glared at him when he met his eyes he didn't stop in his intent.

The ride to her house was bliss, the way she let him in, in a way she hadn't before, had him believe she was starting to warm up to him. And that thought was further confirmed the moment she closed her eyes and waited for his kiss. And yet he couldn't. What she was feeling towards him was still clouded by doubt and fear. He suspected she really just pushed the matter of believing him or not to the side, and right now she was just going with the flow. As much as he was happy she opened up to him he was also aware she could break any moment.

And so he left, into the night. Going to feed, needing a distraction. Needing the space.

What really ruined the mode that day was the cup of steaming ramen he found in his temporary house.

* * *

As she opened her eyes that morning she was satisfied to wake up to the smell of her bed and the view of familiar walls. Nothing was like waking up in your own room.

Humming she started a shower and revelled in her morning rituals.

As she poured coffee in a cup she felt a gust of wind that gave her goose bumps on her naked legs. She knew she should have put on a pair of long jeans, not these flimsy shorts. Leaving the cup on the counter she turned around to quickly change herself in her room. Passing in front of the living room she saw the curtains moving from the corner of her eyes. She stopped and turned around frowning. Had she left the balcony doors open yesterday?

She made her way to it and closed the doors, then she fixed the curtains, so that they hid the interior of the house from outsiders.

"Good morning. Isn't it too cold for that attire?"

She jumped in panic and turned around trying to get her heart to start beating again. An amused Sasuke met her eyes from a comfortable position on her couch.

"Would you please just _stop_ doing that?!" she was out of breath, no matter how awake she was, she still lived alone, it was not part of her morning routine being suddenly addressed to by people.

He didn't answer, merely smirking more, and she ignored him, exiting the room and going to change. It really was too cold that morning.

When she returned he had taken a seat in the kitchen, waiting for her. She reached for her cup and sat opposite of him, openly glaring. "Don't you have anything else to do early in the morning other than scare girls?"

"I merely greeted you. I don't see how that is supposed to scare you" he provoked her. He had been right, she was warming up to him, and he was enjoying every moment of it. Especially when she got all riled up.

Sakura nearly sputtered her coffee on the table. "What?! You know, you could knock next time! That's how _normal_ people do it. Stop appearing from nowhere or entering through the window!" because that just made it all seem too eerie, she didn't want him to behave like that, she wanted to do as if he never told her anything all these days – nights – as if he was a normal guy. Seeing how she seemed to not be able to cut him out of her life – she realised she quite liked him there – at least she could pretend.

He chuckled "I'll keep that to mind the next time I'll come over. And to answer your question: yes, as a matter of fact, I have something to do today, so I came by to tell you I'll see you tonight. I'll pick you up at seven" he stood up and rounded the table stopping in front of her. Now serious he put a hand on her cheek and traced her features with his eyes, stroking her cheek with his thumb he ordered "Be careful today"

She felt the tension between the two of them, but realized his touch had nothing to do with attraction, it was nothing like last night. He was worried. Covering his hand with hers she met his eyes squarely and nodded, trying to assure him he should not worry.

Taking a breath at her assent he leant down brushing his lips against her forehead. When she opened her eyes he had disappeared again, like that evening.

He didn't want to leave her alone yet, he wanted to watch out for her a bit more, he still wasn't sure if he could trust her not to close up again. But it was inevitable. That ramen bowl was a clear message. He had to meet him.

He flew of and rematerialized in a dark alley, coming out he walked straight to a food stand.

The insignia read 'Ichiraku' .

Sitting down he ordered a bowl for himself and started eating. Once finished he stood up and started walking, making his way home. Once on the balcony of his home he turned towards the man who had followed him till there.

"Dobe"

His best friend grinned "Teme"

"What do you want? You know I want to be left alone in this period" he said that, but knew something was off, Naruto did, as a matter of fact bug him with the most trivial things, but when he approached him indirectly and waited for his acknowledge it meant business.

Naruto went to sit inside on a couch "You know you should have let me have some more bowls of ramen"

Sasuke tsked "I don't get why you eat that much, it's not like it actually is what keeps you on your feet" as he sat on the couch in front of his.

"What?! No! You can never get enough ramen!" Naruto intervened affronted.

But Sasuke had had enough. With a look he signalled that 'joke-time' was over.

Naruto sobered up "Alright seriously now, you've taken longer than last time, the others are starting to get worried. I told them to stay put, but I came anyway. You're not leaving us right? I noticed in this last period you're starting to drift away from everyone, I know it's hard to bear with it all, I know you take care of us, of keeping us hidden, of hunting our enemies. You _are _our prince, Sasuke, and we appreciate all you do for us to keep us safe." He leant over with his elbows braced on his knees "But Sasuke, you need to let us help, you can't do everything on your own. You have me, you have our friends, we are family. Don't keep going through this alone."

Sasuke huffed amused. It seemed he had a friend as obnoxious as Sakura had. He wondered when Naruto had become such a worrywart, as a child – well what for them was a child – he had been the most carefree boy of the community. Well, yes, his spontaneous protective nature could already be seen then, none of his friends would get hurt without him trying to defend them. But for a long time he hadn't cared about important things at all. Actually, he remembered when everything changed, and he also guessed his own actions were partly at fault for Naruto's worry.

"I'm fine. I've got some sort of a situation right now, but don't worry I'll be back in a few. You can leave now." Sasuke stood up and faced the window, away from Naruto's concerned face.

But he froze at Naruto's next words "Actually that's not the only reason I came looking for you"

Sasuke turned around frowning to meet Naruto's unusual serious face "We are worried, Sasuke. A suspicious quantity of people are disappearing, _humans_. It all started in sound, but it's also happening here and in a lot other places. A lot of them were found mutilated and drained of blood, as if someone has gone on a raid. Others were not found at all. We are investigating, but all our clues take to a dead end. Also suspicious movements were reported of some renegades around the city, so far there's no sign of hostile motives, but it can't be anything good. Kiba is out hunting with Akamaru, they try to get as many of them as they can, but no one is talking and a lot are experts in hiding and leaving false trails."

Sasuke's frown got deeper, that was in fact unsettling. It wasn't uncommon for rebels to plan some attack once in a while, but their movements added to the mysterious disappearances made him grow restless, in his long life he had learned that when things happened they were rarely coincidences.

He locked his gaze with Naruto's "Tell Kiba to keep patrolling, summon Shikamaru and have him investigate the matter further, if someone, he's the one with the ability to find out what is happening. Also get someone to help Kiba. Send word to all the others of what is happening, they need to keep their eyes open and be careful, something's not right"

Naruto nodded and made his way to the balcony "I'll report at your party tonight. Tell Sakura-chan I said hi." Naruto smirked "Did you think I wouldn't find out?"

Sasuke didn't react, although inside he was itching to break his neck "I never hid it. Had I done that, you would have never known of her existence."

Naruto laughed "Yeah, yeah." Then he sobered "I'm happy for you, teme" and left, leaving Sasuke to mull over his words.

* * *

She knew Ino would be there any minute now. That's why she prepared all her make-up and the tools she would need to do her hair. No matter how much she insisted, Ino always demanded to prepare her for any occasion.

As a matter of fact after a few minutes the doorbell rang. Opening the door she sighed "Isn't it really too early to start? It's still two... Ino what's wrong?!"

A red eyed Ino stood in front of the door. As she looked into Sakura's eyes she broke down again and hugged her best friend , looking for comfort "It's over. For real now. He said he wasn't satisfied with what we had and is moving on"

Sakura sighed, she had seen this coming, they were too much alike, he actually cared about his appearance more than Ino did. She just didn't expect it so soon and she also didn't think he'd be such an ass and leave her hours before a party that he _knew_ was important to her. "Oh Ino! Come on in."

Sitting on the sofa Sakura let her cry it out, most of Ino's stories ended like that, in a way she was like Sakura, they both had to find the right one, and couldn't seem to settle down with any guy they had met so far. The difference was that Ino kept trying to find her love the wrong way. "Come on, you told me yourself you weren't sure he was right for you. "

"I know! But we were going so well these last weeks, I thought I could fall in love with him!"

So it wasn't Kaito in particular, it was her hope "I'm sorry pig. Your time will come" she murmured caressing her hair.

Ino then stood up, a pout on her face "I want to do your make-up, and hair" Sakura laughed "Yeah sure, let's go"

As Sakura was relaxing Ino was slowly turning into her usual self "Anyway I already talked to Kankuro, he's dateless too, so he's picking me up from here around six thirty, he needs to finish the preparations and asked for my help" she sounded smug, of course she was known for her organizing abilities. "Oh and I'm still mad at you for keeping from me you've been seeing someone"

Sakura tensed up "Well, it's not that we're seeing each other" did she have to think about their nearly-kiss in that moment? "We've only known one another for something like three-four days"

"And he's already invited you to a party?! And you didn't think of telling me this?" Ino was indignant.

Well she couldn't exactly tell her best friend that she's been meeting with a – let's face it amazingly attractive – man who asserted to be a vampire. It sounded impossible to her, and she had seen some things in the last days that made her doubt her judgement, how could Ino listen to her and not believe she had gone crazy? And if she believed Sakura wasn't making this up, she'd reprimand her for keeping contact with this person who sounded extremely dangerous and whose mental sanity was at doubt. She couldn't tell her that she had started to have strange feelings for such a man. She'd be skinned alive by Ino.

"I wanted it to be a surprise" Sakura answered forcing a smile on her face. She didn't know how she'd explain how they met to Ino once she introduced Sasuke to her. This night promised to be hell.

After hours of preparation they were both ready and the doorbell rang again, Kankuro waiting for Ino in front of Sakura's door. "Well see you there forehead. You and your mystery man" Ino winked making her blue dress flutter around as she pirouetted "Besides, I never noticed but red really suits you. You look great." She said sending her an appraising look.

Sakura ignored how those words sounded familiar and answered "Not as much as you do"

Ino winked again "I know" and disappeared behind the door.

Sakura sighed smiling. That crazy friend of hers. She sat down on the sofa, bent on relaxing for the next half an hour.

The moment the doorbell rang for the third time that evening Sakura felt her heart stop from nervousness. Summoning all of her courage she opened the door "I guess sometimes you know how to listen to what people say to you"

He traced his eyes all over her, and a hungry look met her nervous one "Sometimes" then he stepped closer "You look strikingly beautiful tonight, I told you red was your colour." And she did, she was stunning, in that red dress that hugged her curves highlighting a body he had yet to notice she had, she was an eye candy for every man that would see her that night, added with the light blush on her face she was irresistible. And as much as it pleased him to see her all dressed up, with a dress whose colour he had chosen, he also was aware he'd have to pay more attention than usual that evening, any distraction might result in a chance for men to approach her.

"Shall we?" he asked offering his arm.

The gala was, as expected, magnificent. And the first thing they did was go greet the hosts.

"Uchiha-san. Haruno-san. It's a pleasure to have you here. Uchiha-san, we're delighted you accepted our invitation this time" Gaara was however interrupted when an excited Temari jumped at Sakura's neck exclaiming "Sakura! I didn't believe Ino when she told me you'd come! And what a nice partner you found yourself" she whispered the last part in her ear, but watching Sasuke's tiny – almost unnoticeable – smirk Sakura was sure he had heard perfectly well what had been whispered at her ear. And another thing was in her mind at the moment: so his surname was 'Uchiha', strangely that name rang some sort of a bell in her mind. She couldn't quite remember what it was she should remember, however.

"Come on sister. We have other guests to welcome" Gaara said annoyed, pulling his sister with him, and with a respectful nod he excused himself.

They didn't have time to compose themselves when "Sakura?". Said girl closed her eyes in displeasure, opening them again she met Sasuke's gaze and whispered "Prepare for the worst" turning around she tried to smile in a relaxed way "Ino"

When she saw her friend's incredulous gaze she knew all was lost, and the intimate way Sasuke put his hand on her lower back, to let her know he was there for her, didn't help at all, for Ino's eyes widened even more. Said girl then recovered and said "Excuse me, I need to borrow my friend for a few seconds" and pulled Sakura away from Sasuke.

"Your date is _Sasuke Uchiha_?! Forehead! And you didn't tell me?!" Ino whispered animatedly. Sakura didn't get what all the commotion was about, and correctly reading the clueless look on her face Ino gasped more "You don't even know _who_ you've snagged off the market, do you?! Uchiha-san here is the head of the most influential company of the whole Fire Country! He's the youngest CEO to have succeeded in such a way! And he's never seen in public, like _never._ Especially not in high-society frivolous parties! And _you_'ve managed to snag him like that? I demand to know your secret" she said stubbornly.

Before Sakura could come out of her stupor and actually answer her a hand was posed on her shoulder. She turned around to meet cerulean eyes. "May I have this dance?" Sakura nodded dazedly, catching – even in her stunned state – the occasion to evade a now fuming Ino.

As they started to dance the blond haired man introduced himself "Hey, Sakura right? I'm Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hmmm. My pleasure" now she was looking for a way to escape this man. As much as he seemed really nice, she didn't have time for pleasantries. Where was Sasuke when she needed him?

As if on cue "I'm Sasuke's best friend" he said with a grin that made her truly doubt what he was saying, he was far too different from Sasuke to be his best friend. "Really?" Naruto nodded excitedly "You're really cute Sakura-chan. I get why Sasuke likes you so much."

He was like a little boy "Somehow I find it hard to believe you're friends" she didn't want to offend him yet she couldn't help herself from stating that.

But he didn't seem at all upset "I know, but trust me, for example I know that right now he's watching us and he's itching to come here and rip my throat out or put a stake through my heart. Especially if I do this" and he pushed her even nearer to him as they danced. "Right now his hands are itching. You know he hasn't behaved the way he behaves around you with anyone else. He's not really a touchy feely guy, yet I observed you two, he can't take his hands off you, as if you are a blood bag and he's dying of thirst." His grin widened "And I'm drinking from it"

Hmm, vampire references. She blushed at the allusions he made about Sasuke, but then couldn't help but ask "If you know it's making him mad why did you invite me to dance?" Naruto unexpectedly laughed "Because it's so fun to rile him up" he wasn't normal "Besides, I guessed you didn't want to answer your friend's questions, so I took it upon myself to give you some more time to think it out" and he winked at her.

Suddenly warmth flooded her, she could see how one could feel affection towards Naruto, she was already starting to grow fond of him. He was such a caring person, and behind his dumb façade he was actually very perceptive.

"That's enough dobe. _Hands off_." Sasuke was glowering over them. Naruto laughed "Chill out, teme. It's not like I'm marking her. I really want to dance!" but contradicted his own words by letting her simultaneously go "See you Sakura-chan! Teme, I'll check out on Kiba"

Sakura giggled "That's a weird friend you have, would have never pegged you to be friends with someone like him" she said as she watched the blond haired boy get out of the room. "He's a dobe" he simply commented rearranging their limbs and starting to lead her through the song, holding her tightly against himself. Sakura blushed, where Naruto had had the ability to make her relax, Sasuke seemed to work her up with the most innocent of touches. "Still you two are friends?"

He twisted her around before catching her tightly again "He understands me. We understand each other. We grew up together and suffered similar losses, so much that we could be considered brothers." His hand lightly traced her spine as they danced "He is very keen on keeping my head out of the water, you know? He's a very sunny person, and he's always been there for me. As much as we are different we care for each other. I guess we complement each other." He concluded dipping her down as the song ended.

Sakura smiled, thinking of Ino "I can relate to that".

They danced some more in silence, basking in each other's presence. And once Sasuke noticed Sakura was tired he lead her out of the room on a wide balcony with a bench on the side. He stood near her sitting form looking into the night.

"This evening was actually quite nice" Sakura interrupted the silence.

He turned his head to watch her "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. I guess I can say the same" he smirked.

Sakura sighed missing his look "Now I need to figure out how to explain all this to Ino or how to avoid her for the rest of my life"

Sasuke chuckled "If that's not called overdramatic… do you want me to compel her?" his eyes gleamed playfully.

"Don't you dare!" Sakura exclaimed, but then realized he had just been joking "Oh yeah, go on, make fun out of me and of my problems" she stood up half offended, half embarrassed at not having caught his teasing. As she was about to make her way back inside, a pair of arms caught her and pulled her back into a strong, well-built chest. She silently gasped at his move, and flushed at the position they were in. His arms were wrapped possessively around her waist and his head was on the side of hers, his breath tickling her ear. Had she been someone else she'd have fainted. He had an abnormal strong effect on her.

He felt every contour, every curve of her body. She was so small. He had to be careful; if he treated her slightly more roughly she might break. She was so small and yet she held so much power over him, again this evening she had brought him to flirt with her, to tease her. She had him talk about a bond very dear for him. Who was this girl that so easily commanded him?

He turned her around holding her by her waist and meeting her eyes he said smiling "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I promise we'll find a way to get this together."

Ah. There it was again, the tension. The overwhelming urge to be closer.

He leant down, mesmerized by emerald eyes, however something stopped him. Turning around he watched as Naruto made his way towards him, not letting go of Sakura he straightened and waited for his friend to reach him "Naruto?"

Naruto dismissed in the fraction of a second the fact that Sakura was also listening "Sasuke, we've got a problem. Kiba and Akamaru say they smelled blood in the vicinity. A scary amount of blood, and it just keeps growing. Someone is executing a slaughter. Shikamaru is on his way, but if it's as many of them as Kiba suspects we'll need your help"

Sasuke turned towards Sakura tightening momentarily his hold on her waist "I need to go, wait here for me, I'll finish as quickly as possible and take you home" Sakura nodded, not understanding what they were talking about. Sasuke traced her face before nodding at her and taking off.

As they ran into the night, jumping on rooftops Sasuke asked "How far?"

"Half a mile left from here" Kiba joined them riding Akamaru.

"What do you sense?" Sasuke asked again, trusting Kiba in his superior sense of smell and his link to his hound. "It's growing. Blood is being spilled at an incredibly fast rate, it must be at least five vampires, and they're not drinking. I don't get it, it just keeps flowing out."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, he had a bad feeling about this.

None of them were however prepared to face the scenery they found in the park Kiba had lead them to. Fifty, sixty humans were lying across the ground bloodied and mutilated, some of them were still alive and were beating each other up.

Sasuke was the first to awaken from the horror and quickly jumped in front of the last surviving human who had just killed his opponent. Taking him by the shoulders he gazed into his eyes, they were glazed, and Sasuke realised he had been compelled. Cursing inside his head, he ordered _tell me who did this, tell me _what_ you did_. The man's eyes momentarily focused on Sasuke before glazing over again, then he murmured "Kill yourselves. Fight until everyone of you is dead" that said he drove the knife in his hand through his ribcage falling to the ground.

Sasuke stared, stupefied at what had happened. He was joined by Naruto and Kiba.

"This makes no sense." Naruto said with angry eyes "Why order something like that? That's just brutal"

"It was a strong compulsion" Sasuke said with an expressionless mask "The need to complete the task was stronger than their own survival instinct. He should have fought to free himself when I questioned him, yet he didn't bulge. It's a remarkable job. And you're right. The question is : why. Why would someone have so many people just kill each other, without trying to change them or eat from them. What's the purpose of it?"

The answer came from above them "No Sasuke, the question is. What is it they wanted us to take our attention off to create such a big distraction?"

Sasuke met Shikamaru's eyes, and then he froze in understanding "No…"

* * *

Sakura stared at their backs as they left. She had felt the agitation in Naruto's words, yet she struggled to comprehend what he said. He didn't use strange or unusual words, it was straight and simple, yet she couldn't bring herself to wrap her head around it.

Blood.

She needed to go there, maybe she could help save someone. She should call the police and the hospital.

And tell them what? That there had been a slaughter probably carried out by vampires? She needed to sit down and wait for Sasuke. And this time she'd have to clear everything up. Was she ready to enter such a world? Would it be better to tell him they couldn't see each other again?

Sakura's head hurt. In these days more things happened than in the last month. She liked her life as it was. Calm, ordinary, regular. This all was just too much for her.

She saw Ino coming towards her from the other end of the room. Oh hell.

All of a sudden she felt a tap on her shoulder "Hi. I didn't get to introduce myself last time on the bus. My name's Kabuto."

* * *

**Boom! Cliff-hanger! I hope… :)**

**We're starting to get more into the plot here, tell me if you like where this is going, I never intended it to be just romance: they fall in love and happy ever after. Let me know how is. **

**Also I can't assure that chapters will come out regularly, I've got the next few chapters more or less laid out, but since it's becoming a bit more complex and I'd like to succeed in having you wonder until the end at least a little bit, I've got to think more about how to go with the story.**

**I'm nervous! Waiting for your feedback :)**

**Fav, follow & review**

**-debs**


	7. Chapter 6

**Here it is :)**

**Thank you all for reviewing and following my story :) your support is really important for me**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

* * *

He was running. He was running quicker than he had ever ran in his life. He had known it would have been dangerous for her to be in his life, but he always presumed he'd be able to prevent anything from happening to her. And yet he realized he hadn't done his best, he hadn't really been careful about his movements, too engrossed in the mystery and the temptation that was Sakura. Naruto had known about her, he should have immediately thought that others would catch on as well, he should have imagined his enemies would have tried to get at him through her. Still, as much as he could have been distracted by her, he would have noticed if anyone was watching or following him, it hadn't been a week yet that he had met her, and they had already found her.

Shikamaru ran closely behind him "She has your smell all over her Sasuke, it wasn't a slip in your attention. It was actually inevitable that others would know immediately about her. The only way to prevent this would have been to lock her in your house from the first moment you saw her, and this would have been impossible" his ever attentive friend was of course immediately aware of what he was thinking.

Yet what he said didn't comfort Sasuke at all. He could have prevented this. He should have marked her as his, as much as he hated the notion of exposing her as a possession – he knew _she_ would hate it – it would have at least warned vampires that there would be consequences if anyone dared to touch her. He should have taken her blood, had he done that he would have known immediately the moment she was being taken, had he done that he would have been able to look over her every moment. And he _would_ have even be able to prevent it. While now as he was running, even at the top of his speed, he knew she was already long gone; he was running as if she'd be waiting for him, yet they had already taken her. He only hoped they had taken her to manipulate him and not to hurt him by killing her. He hoped it for her. For him. He hoped for _them_ he didn't find as much as a scratch on her, when he took her back.

As he neared the building of the Sabaku he immediately noticed a shaken Ino who was pacing in front of the door with her phone in her hand.

He signalled the others and the got on the road a few metres away from the building. The moment Ino saw him her eyes widened and she scurried towards him "Uchiha-san! I can't find her! I don't know what to do! She isn't answering her phone! She never does that and I have a really bad feeling about it! She simply left without saying a word!" Sasuke interrupted her grabbing her shoulders and said "Calm down now, you are not helping Sakura by overreacting" when he was sure she had calmed down – he had after all, in some way, told Sakura he wouldn't compel her friend; he intended to keep his word – he released her saying "Now tell me exactly what happened"

"I don't know! One moment she was there watching me, the next she left with a guy, about our age, a bit taller than her, couldn't see his hair of face since he was wearing a hoodie. And she didn't even acknowledged me when I called 'forehead'!" Sasuke gritted his teeth, they had most probably compelled her. At least she hadn't been taken by the use of brute force. But not even this thought managed to put his mind somewhat at ease. They had taken her and they would pay.

Ino went from observing a blank faced Sasuke – which was making her even more agitated, for god's sake, didn't he care for Sakura at all?! – to staring into another pair of black eyes; suddenly she calmed down and felt the strange need and willingness to answer any question he would make.

"_Is this everything you know? Can't you remember anything else that could be of relevance?" _Shikamaru stared at Ino, making sure she wasn't withholding anything. She answered dazedly "No. Except that when I saw her face as she got out of the room she looked a bit spaced out as if she was daydreaming. But I think it was just my impression."

"I need to find her" Sasuke turned around and was about to take off to look for her scent when Shikamaru stopped him "Wait, we need to plan ahead, and we'll go together. It will not help her if we rush into things. One mistake and she is dead or out of our reach" then he turned towards Ino _"You won't tell anyone what you have seen, Sakura has left for a short trip with Sasuke and is unreachable through phone. That boy was Sasuke's driver"_ Ino nodded dumbly and made her way to Kankuro to ask him to take her home. Shikamaru watched her momentarily go with unusual attentiveness. Then he sighed, knowing things were about to get even more complicated "Troublesome".

Then he turned to the calm fury that was his leader "Now, for the plan"

* * *

It was hard to breath.

Why did she have such a struggle to breath? It was the same feeling of when she was in bed with a high fever and couldn't help but deepen her breaths and fall asleep.

But she didn't have a fever. Had she?

The last thing she remembered was Sasuke leaving her at the party. Could she be ill? Maybe Sasuke took her home and into her bed.

Her bed wasn't this hard.

She struggled to open her eyes, but to no avail. The she started to hear the voices.

"I'm going to go call him" ah, a familiar voice. Familiar but not welcome.

"Yeah sure, in the meantime we'll have a little feast with this tiny bird we've captured." Laughter. A hand on her chin.

Then a thud. "Don't touch her. He wants her for himself. And he wants her untouched, if you value your newfound life you will not dare to put a hand on her. Even your smell on her skin will anger him"

Steps. A door closed. Chairs were moved around.

Then all faded into silence again.

* * *

Perched on the roof of his home he waited.

He hated waiting, he had never been the patient type. But he would wait, for her. He'd be patient for her sake because the better the plan, the more chances of rescuing her unscathed.

He waited and thought. He thought about the last time he had been in such a place. It had only been two nights. It had been with her. And the night had seemed so much warmer. Now, alone – again – , the shadows of the night felt like his own shadows; dark thoughts clouded his mind, the images of the lifeless, faceless bodies of her captors ingrained behind his eyes.

Shino was here. With deadly grace Sasuke let himself fall down on the balcony and moved into the flat were he found all of them reunited.

Shikamaru had his hands joined at the tips of his fingers, in the usual way of when he was devising a plan. Then he opened his eyes and met Sasuke's unblinking ones "Shino already sent his bugs to follow her scent. Once we are aware of the situation we will proceed" Shino looked deeply concentrated.

After a few more moments, which were some of the most tense Sasuke remembered in a lot of time, Shino raised his head "The girl is in a basement. The house is full of her smell. It is her home. Three more are with her. A fourth scent can be distinguished but the subject is absent"

Kiba and Naruto showed bewildered expressions, Sasuke remained blank – but inside he was fuming at the thought those filthy beings invaded her home – Shikamaru smirked "Clever"

When the two bewildered eyes turned towards him he sighed "It is obvious: they brought her there, for one, because it would be the last place we would think about. Moreover, if we followed her smell and were brought to her house we'd only think it was an older trace, it could never be recognized if she was actually present in there, since she is in the basement probably unable of calling for help and the house is so full of her smell, we would not check the house thoroughly and we'd probably follow other leads. They didn't consider however Shino and his bugs. You see the bugs of the Aburame clan are especially bred to track people. They have the ability to discern smells and hold onto the most recent or the past one. For them smell is like footprints on the earth, an expert is able to distinguish between who passed today and who passed yesterday".

"That's all good. But now we need to act." Sasuke had had enough, he wanted her safe, possibly in his home and in his arms.

Shikamaru explained the plan "We don't know who they are. Or what level of danger. I say, as a precaution Sasuke and Naruto should sneak in and evaluate the situation. You two are the oldest among us, you are the ones with the highest possibility of sneaking in undetected as you have a control and power superior to ours. If they deem it necessary they will signal for us to come inside for help, otherwise they will dispose of them as Sasuke wishes."

Naruto jumped up in excitement, being his usual self at the prospect of some action, "Yeah! That's right!".

But Sasuke was already out on the balcony shifting form to leave "Let's go" and with that he left, leaving the others to scramble behind him, trying not to lose sight of him.

As they reached Sakura's home they hid their presence, both mental and physical, Shikamaru nodded at Sasuke and Naruto. The two of them shifted into the form of water vapour and slid inside from under the door; undetected they made their way inside in that form until they reached the basement.

Sasuke saw a greyish room, with no furniture except for a table and a few chairs, that Sasuke recognised were from Sakura's foyer; at the table, lazing off on a chair was a blonde vampire, another was leaning against the table standing, while the third was positioned in front of the stairs that led up to the foyer.

_Amateurs_. Sasuke thought as he and Naruto passed the oblivious guy at the entrance. His judgement was further confirmed when the two at the table continued their conversation without having a hint of the danger they were in.

"How do you plan on walking in the sun now?"

"Are you an idiot? Do you see any exterior changes in me? No one will notice, and it's not like we burn or sparkle in the sun. Wasn't it explained to you when they changed you, what you can or can't do?"

"No! and it's not my fault they omitted these things!"

"But you at least know about him, right?"

"Would you two keep quiet? I'm trying to check if anyone nears the house!" the third one intervened.

He was however ignored "Of course I know. That's exactly why I told you not to test his patience and leave the girl alone. You know I would like to have a bite of her as well, but we have orders!"

Sasuke had heard enough. Mentally connecting with Naruto to signal they should act, he materialised behind one of them "So you touched her, ha?" the fledgling had the time only to turn around and watch in terror, as he understood what was happening, before Sasuke drove a hand into his chest extracting his heart, then he took hold of his hair with one hand and with the other he severed his head.

Looking up he saw Naruto had ended his job too. This all was done in the span of a few seconds.

Turning to the last remaining vampire Sasuke ordered "Grab him"

Only then did Sasuke allow himself to look at Sakura. He had been aware of her presence in the room since he had entered it, had heard her reassuring breaths, but knew that if he had turned to her immediately he would have lost focus. Now he knew he was right. She was laying on the floor, without as much as a blanket to make the hard ground a bit more comfortable. He couldn't see bruises or any other injury on her, but she was pale, her dress was crumpled and muddy, her breaths so deep and low any human would have thought she wasn't breathing at all. And seeing her like that was the last straw.

"You!" he growled loudly, turning towards the one who would soon become the object he would vent his fury against.

Naruto reading the emotions into his eyes, didn't even try to stop him, knowing that in this state there was no way he could be stopped. Waiting for the worst he held the fledgling who was now whimpering in terror.

But then "S-Sasuke?"

He froze. Everything seemed to freeze in that moment around him.

Slowly he turned around and watched as her eyelashes strived to open. Her breaths became quicker as she fought sleep.

When she opened her eyes he was in front of her, his expressionless face analysing her own. But his eyes said so much more. He was worried, Sakura though with warmth, but she read fury in them too, an anger that was tearing him apart. An anger she had never seen before.

With struggle she lifted a hand to cup his face, with her thumb she stroked the skin under his eye "Don't be so angry. You'll get wrinkles" she tried to weekly joke "Were does this come from? You are not this person, at least you never showed me this person. Are you telling me you deceived me? You're the good one, right?"

And as if _she _compelled _him,_ his anger settled down, and he was filled with relief at seeing she was still behaving like usual. He was good. She said he was the good one, after everything that had happened to her she didn't view him as a bad person. She wasn't resenting him for all the confusion and for the kidnapping.

And as he met her warm eyes he couldn't contain himself anymore.

Sweeping down, he claimed her lips as his own. Pressing his lips against hers he kept the kiss chaste, and the moment she returned his advances he felt his heart was about to burst, and suddenly he didn't care anymore if Naruto was in the room, if an enemy was witnessing a very week moment on his part, if there probably was a conspiracy against him, he didn't care about anything else than the lips that were pushing against his, the small puffs of breath that hit his cheek and the hand that was now clenching in his hair. The feeling of her was bliss, and in that moment he felt all the years of loneliness had been worth it if they had been for him to find her. This was enough. This simple touch of her lips, this simple feeling of her acceptance was enough for him. He lifted her body without detaching himself, and gently gathered her in his arms, away from the hard, cold ground.

As her hand fell from his hair and she went motionless under him he raised his head watching through lidded eyes her sleeping face. He momentarily closed his eyes, revelling in the way her head hid in the hollow of his neck. He guessed he could break the compulsion, but she had struggled mentally and physically a lot, it would be better to let it wear off, and let her rest in the meantime.

With Sakura in his arms he turned and ignoring Naruto's smirk he motioned for him to take Sakura so he could deal with their hostage. Then he turned around and made the trembling vampire sit.

"Why? Why did you take her?" he felt anger resurfacing.

When the vampire turned his head around as if looking for an escape route, Sasuke slammed his hand on the table "I demand an answer. Don't make me make you regret challenging me"

"She is leverage, because of her connection with you" the vampire found himself muttering, in fear.

Sasuke sneered leaning even more towards his enemy "Do you think I didn't get as much? What I want to know is what you wanted to do to her, _what_ is your objective. _How _did you wanted to use her. _Who is he._"

His eyes widened "I-I can't tell you that!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and answered growling " Maybe you don't quite get what happens if you do not collaborate. I _will_ kill you."

The vampire suddenly dropped his head between his hands "He'd do much worse!" suddenly meeting Sasuke's eyes with a twisted look he murmured "I can't" and before Sasuke or Naruto realized what was going on he had taken out a long blade and sank it directly into his heart, collapsing in the chair, immediately motionless.

"Damn it!" Sasuke threw the table against the wall.

"Hey, that's pointless" Naruto tried to get his attention and moved on Sasuke's side "Come on. She needs you" and then observed as Sasuke's eyes immediately dropped to the girl in his arms and he instantly was in front of him relieving him of her.

"Tell someone to clean this mess. I want this room to be in the same condition as before this scum touched it" He said coldly as he gathered more comfortably Sakura in his arms.

With a more sedate look watching her, he said "Let's go home"

He never once dropped his gaze from Sakura's face as they took off in the night.

* * *

**Finally!**

**Sorry for the wait :) I took a bit more time for this one, but I warned you ;)**

**So? I really can't wait to hear what you think about this chapter…**

**Fav, follow and review :)**

**-debs **


	8. Chapter 7

**I know! I know! Took me a lot of time :) get used to it, I'll have less and less time from now on :) but I won't abandon you I swear :)…**

**To make up for it this chapter is longer than my previous ones :) **

**Have fun reading!**

* * *

This was definitely much more comfortable than the last time she had woken up.

Was she sleeping on clouds or something like that? Because it felt like it. All around her was soft material, the silkiest comforter was wrapped all over her and most mellow bed was spreading beneath her.

She guessed after experiencing sleep on the floor, naturally her bed would feel like heaven. She sighed turning around face down in the pillow. She didn't want to wake up, but the fight against her subconscious to stay asleep added with the light that bugged her eyes, was only serving the purpose of having her even more awake. She furrowed her brows. It wasn't fair, she was feeling so good in that moment, she _couldn't_ wake up now. Feeling her way around the bed she spread her arms trying to discern how close she was to the border. Her left hand was the first to reach the end of the bed, she smirked mentally. 'Perfect'. She leant down, knowing that on that side of the bed on the floor she kept the remote for her electric curtains; with that she'd close the windows that were allowing the offending light of the sun to flow into her room.

When did her bed grow in height?

She kept on stretching her arm downwards until suddenly her barycentre wasn't on the bed anymore. As a matter of fact it was on the floor.

With a shriek she tightened her already closed eyes as she felt her weight being attracted towards the ground.

And then she felt a hand on her stomach halting her fall. Opening her eyes, finally, in astonishment, she observed as dark brown carpet distanced itself from her face. The hand that had saved her from a sure pain and an embarrassing bruised face pulled her back on the bed turning her with her back on the mattress.

As much as she still was half asleep, she blushed at the sight of an amused Sasuke leaning over her with a smirk on his face, bracing his weight on the hand that had grabbed her and that now was beside her arm.

"Hi" she squeaked, when the tense moment was prolonging itself too much.

His smirk widened "Hi" and understanding her discomfort he kept on talking "How are you?" . At the question his amusement was momentarily put aside by concern, and she watched him for a second as his eyes roamed her face and probed her eyes for any hint she was not feeling alright .

She smiled slightly "I'm fine"

His eyes narrowed.

Sakura red the doubt in Sasuke's eyes. She knew what bothered him, and she obviously had been through a lot that night, despite not remembering all the details – everything was somewhat fuzzy. But she was really fine, for what concerned her. Sure she was still a bit distressed about what she had experienced, but she knew in a few hours, the moment she had time to process and digest it, everything would be alright again. She _was_ fine, when she thought about the serious matters: she wasn't physically hurt and most of all she felt finally at peace.

For days now she had felt uneasy, the changes Sasuke had brought in just a few days had her apprehensive. She had almost taken the decision to cut all ties with him, because as much as she was excited, she was also afraid, she had always been afraid of changes, of new things. Still when she opened her eyes and saw him, she had felt relief. Not because he was there to rescue her, but simply because _he _was _there_. With her. And that was all she needed in that moment. And then it dawned on her: he made her feel alive, intrigued, he pulled her out of the monotony of her life, and she understood that it was time she took the chance, before it was too late. Too long had she pushed away all challenges and changes. It was time she took a risk.

She sighed widening her smile and reassured him "Really, I'm fine. I just need to take everything in, I need a bit of time to think" she slowed down as she took in her surroundings "things" then she looked at herself "over".

When she narrowed her eyes at him he wanted to laugh in relief "While we're talking about 'thinking' what were _you_ '_thinking'_ when you took me into your bed – because it obviously is your room, seeing the style, it all but screams 'Sasuke's room' – and had the nerve to _divest_ me?!"

She started to move around to free herself from his hovering, so she lifted a hand to push him away and squirmed trying to get up. She always was quite the dreamer.

Sasuke took hold of both of her hands and pinned them down on either side of her head, leaning in he talked "Firstly: I really hope for you, you are not criticizing the 'style' of my room or my personality. Secondly: as much as it was tempting" he smirked at her outraged gasp "Hinata, Naruto's mate, undressed you, as we guessed it would be quite uncomfortable to sleep in that getup."

Pushing aside her embarrassment at her previous burst, she groaned relaxing in his hold – as much as she wanted to blush at their position she fought that too – and closed her eyes "What? More vampires? I don't think I can handle it"

After what had happened there was no doubt in her mind about what he told her, and after seeing and hearing what she had, she realized she had finally accepted it. After all she was a medic, a researcher, when a new discovery is made, scientists don't start whining about it not being possible, they study it and increase their knowledge.

He nearly smiled at her open admission, and loosened his hold on her wrists. Then he sighed when more pressing matters took place in his mind. Letting his head fall next to hers between their outstretched arms, he sighed again, a remote part of his mind smugly noting how her heartbeat increased at his sudden closeness.

"While we're talking about handling…" He lifted his head again releasing her and sat next to her laying body with an elbow rested on his bent knee while his other leg was stretched out on the mattress. "I need to tell you something"

She watched as he detached himself from her, and as he did the same emotionally. He was closing himself off again, nothing like the carefree individual from before; but she was starting to get better at reading him, and noticed nervousness behind his eyes.

So she sat up as well, making sure everything was in its place – fortunately this Hinata had put a pair of leggings and a normal t-shirt on her, nothing too revealing, nothing Ino would have chosen – and looked in his eyes "What? What is it?"

"You see. You must have already realized your kidnapping happened because of me. They took you because of your association with me. The fact is, I should have prevented anything from happening to you. I _could_ have prevented it. And now I need to do something that will enable me to do just that. And what I need to do is something you need and try to handle"

Sakura laughed mirthlessly, something in his tone told her she wouldn't like this thing "You're making me nervous now. Please go straight to the point, stop it with all the beating around the bush"

Sasuke took her hand, examining it while in deep thought. She was right, there was no other way than to say it and be over with it. Raising his gaze from her hand he said "I need to drink your blood"

Suddenly she didn't know what to say and thought maybe it would have been better if he, after all, beat around the bush. Nervously she took her hand away from him, using it to scratch behind her head "W-What's with that? What do you mean? You're suddenly hungry or something?" she tried to joke, in an attempt to mask her nervousness, roving her eyes around the room. Anywhere but on him.

He swallowed. He knew this wouldn't be easy "Listen it's really important. It's for your safety"

She had to be brave, if she really decided to accept what was happening she couldn't just back down from it now, this was like a trial, to test her will. Calming herself down met his gaze again "Explain"

He wanted to reach for her, to touch her and reassure her; but he knew his touch wouldn't be welcomed so he refrained and resorted to make his voice as reassuring as possible "When I take your blood it's like I've created a connection. Once I've taken it, it's the same as having a part of you inside of me, and although we've created the bond through a physical mean, it shows itself in a mental way, meaning that I can reach out to your mind. Check on you, find you."

She took a deep breath – she felt lightheaded – this was in fact going into a worrying direction "I still don't quite understand what you're saying. What do you mean check on me? How is it a mental connection?"

He shifted, suddenly feeling uncomfortable " With simpler words: I'll have a straight connection with your brain, I'll be able to know what you feel, what you hear, what you see" she watched him as a worrying thought came into mind, and waited for him to finish, hoping she was wrong. He met her gaze with his serious one "Know what you think. As I said it's the blood, having it in me is like having access to you, and I told you how vampires have far more developed intellectual abilities. I can access to your mind through your blood. Know if you're in danger, I'd known the moment they had taken you had I drank your blood before." _I didn't want to scare you away_, was what he didn't say.

She wanted to go back to sleep, where no worries hunted her, instead she was left to stare at him, pale and unsure "I-I don't know if I can. I don't think I can. You're asking a lot of me. I'm not even starting to think about the mere notion of you biting me and drinking my blood, but simply the idea that you'll read into my thoughts… well, the fact that you could command me at any time is already enough for me." She couldn't give him so much power over her; she wouldn't have a chance to escape, should she want to. She didn't, but she could.

He sighed in regret "Look, I'm really sorry about that night. But I swear to you, I won't abuse any of my powers. I won't force your will anymore. And I'll try to keep away from your head when it's not needed. Please" since when did he beg? Naruto would laugh at him "It's for our own protection, once all of this is over we'll figure another way for you to be safe. The effect wears off after a while. What I'll do today won't be forever. It's nothing binding."

Could she really allow him to bite her? Apart from the fact that he'd read her thoughts, could she even start to think about the idea of her blood going down his throat? She thanked the heaven for her strong stomach and for being used to the idea of blood. She searched his eyes. He really seemed sure this would keep her safe, all he seemed to worry about was her wellbeing; and after all, he could have compelled her to do it without her consent, had he wanted to. He was giving her free will, he wanted to convince her and to make her believe in what he said. Could she do that?

A part of her roared. Coward! Had she not just decided she had to take chances. Sasuke was the first in a long time to make her feel like she wanted to deepen what they had, she was curious, excited. He said it wouldn't last, she could trust him on that, right? He had been, after all, truthful towards her in all that time.

She looked at him "Will it hurt?"

Hope filled him. Was she really ready to try? He'd have given her more time to decide had she asked him for it "No, it won't, you'll feel a little pierce, but no pain at all. Are you saying yes? Because if you want to think this over…"

"No. I'm saying yes" despite her words, her voice was shaky and the ever attentive Sasuke frowned in doubt at her "Really, I want to get this over with"

He nodded, it was her decision; despite her doubts, if she asked him to, he would do it "Alright"

He neared her and put a hand on the side of her face inclining it to the side, with his other hand he brushed her hair behind her shoulder to expose her neck. He brushed his nose against it inhaling her inebriating smell, reaching over aligning his mouth with her ear "Are you sure?"

She shivered at his attention, and could do nothing other than nodding her head shakily. At her acquiescence he returned to her neck, he once again inhaled her smell, then he licked her neck searching for the vein. When she gasped at his move he couldn't help but momentarily smirk at her reaction; moving his hand from her cheek to her head he kept her still, supporting her body with his other hand, and without warning he sank his teeth into her. She was the most sweet thing he had ever tasted

It was as he said. She bit her lip, to prevent another gasp from escaping her as she felt as if two insects where biting her neck, what she didn't expect was the feeling when he started . She let out a soft moan, before she could prevent herself. The sensation was just… too much. It was as if she was being extracted from her body and was now fluctuating in the air, his lips on her neck and his teeth inside where doing strange things to her.

Fortunately – or maybe not – he lifted his head a few seconds after, licking a trail of blood that threatened to reach her shirt. She shivered in reaction, and when she opened her eyes he was staring at her, with a strange glint in his eyes, his hand was slowly leaving her head, combing through her hair.

He was the first to interrupt their stare by smirking "That wasn't so bad now, was it?"

She rolled at his mischievous look "No" she answered biting her lip to prevent herself from smiling back at him. As a matter of fact it had been nearly pleasurable, as much as it seemed strange to her. He had made her feel comfortable while doing something that she had considered to be very threatening just a few minutes before.

At her answer his smirk widened, however he was immediately distracted from teasing her more when white teeth appeared to torment her lips in embarrassment. And now that he finally had her blood he felt much more at ease, and finally could relax in the knowledge that she was safe. At that thought the taste of her lips came to his mind, and now that the most pressing matter was taken care off he wouldn't mind having another go. With her now conscious.

So without sparing a second, without asking permission, without making her realize he swept down and claimed her lips again, and in that moment, without the adrenaline coming from the fight, without the relief of finding her alive, without her half unconscious condition he could fully enjoy her reaction. As she froze in front of him Sasuke increased the pressure of his lips trying to coax her into the kiss.

She gasped not expecting his move at all, his assault was relentless as he moved his lips over hers; she had tried very hard to get their first kiss out of her mind, nearly convinced it was all a dream caused by all the ruckus, yet now she had no doubt it was true, and when he pressed more into her she couldn't help but move her hands to his shoulders, holding onto him. And without making the conscious decision, just with the thoughts of the emotions he instilled in her, both now and the previous night, she started kissing back, allowing him entrance as he licked her lips asking for permission. She ignored the slight metallic taste of his tongue, too distracted by his teeth as they tugged on her lower lip and then soothed her with a lick of his tongue. His hands trailed up her sides finding purchase in her hair and on the small of her back, slowly but surely Sasuke pushed her down supporting her body until it softly touched the mattress.

Detaching himself momentarily he gazed into her eyes, and waited for the dazed look to leave. Once she was once again fully aware of her surroundings, and a bit of insecurity veiled her eyes, he started to slowly descend on her never breaking eye contact. And then he stopped, a breath away from her lips. The first time she was delirious and relieved, the second time he caught her by surprise, but this time… This time he had to know she desired him too, he had to know she wanted him as much as he did, that she wanted this. Whatever this was.

And she realized it. Looking in his eyes, – panting – she realized what he wanted. Could she give it to him? Until now she was going with the flow. Could she take action and reciprocate his act? It was a simple kiss. Yet it was so much more. He had already taken her blood to protect her, linking himself with her, but she knew she could easily push it off as an act of friendship, as a state that was forced on both of them. Kissing him back, starting the kiss, would mean something completely different. And as much as she partly wanted her reasoning of the night at the party to prevail, she now felt the same pull, the same attraction she felt the night he nearly kissed her, and the night he told her who he was, actually the same attraction she had felt from the start. She realized now that from the moment she had seen him the pull had been there, it was at first unnoticeable, it was sly, it embedded itself in her in such a subtle way and grew slowly, invisible. And right there and then, as she looked in his eyes, those blank yet cold yet so warm eyes she knew that the refusal would hunt her for the rest of her life. So she raised her hands, grabbed his head and jumped right into it.

The moment her hands grabbed his head he felt a weight he hadn't noticed before lift from his chest, and he delved in the sensation of her lips moving against his, this time of her own volition; it had been a conscious and pondered decision. And the joy that filled him at that thought had him tighten his hold her face and waist and hugging her as closely as he could to himself.

Lifting his lips to let her regain her breathing he rested his forehead against hers. He had succeeded. She was safe, in his home, and most importantly in his arms. He smirked lightly. Opening his eyes he met her abashed ones "I'm really glad you're safe" he murmured nudging his nose against hers.

She closed her eyes at his DISPLAY OF AFFECTION/caresses "Mmm… I'm glad you made it possible" she smiled blushing, still thinking about the kiss. He huffed. Taking her blood had been a very intense experience, she had reacted to him in an almost sensual way, yet she was blushing like a school girl at a mere kiss. He wondered what her reaction would be if he pushed farther. But for now this was more than enough, he concluded diving in once again.

But all good things must come to an end. And that end was brought by Naruto.

"Teme! The others are here! They are all waiting in the meeting room! Is Sakura-chan awake yet?" half way through the sentence he vigorously opened the door without thinking much about common courtesy or manners.

What he found was a heavily blushing Sakura sitting beside a fuming Sasuke.

"Did I interrupt something?" he obliviously asked.

"I'll kill you one of these days dobe"

* * *

As she was being led through the halls of the mansion Sakura couldn't help but notice the size of the house, it was gigantic. And from what she'd understood this was Sasuke's home. Not a community house. Just Sasuke's. How could he live in such a big house all by himself? Now that she thought about it, did he have any family?

She looked over to the man who walked half a step in front of her. Who was this man really, with whom she had started this strange, kind of, romantic relationship?

As if sensing her thoughts he turned around smiling reassuringly at her, then he took her hand, lacing their fingers together, bringing it to his mouth to kiss it "We have time to get to know each other better"

Scratch that he actually could very well sense her thoughts. She frowned _I don't want you to so freely read my thoughts. Stop it._ He smirked amused, but – not wanting to have this conversation with Naruto present – he nodded acquiescently nonetheless, sending her a simple _Sorry_… Just to prove the point.

Sakura frowned even more, but didn't have the time to further insist on the matter, for they had reached a massive door. "This takes to the room that was anciently used for war meetings. Let's say we maintained the tradition somehow" Sasuke explained as he led her through the door.

Sakura gulped as many unknown eyes concentrated on her. Self-consciously she got closer to Sasuke, who, sensing her need, partially covered her from the eyes of his friends.

He turned towards Shikamaru "I trust you filled them in on what happened" at his nodding Sasuke continued "Very well." Then he turned to the gathering "Friends. I called you all here for an obvious reason. The people who attacked Sakura were obviously aiming to reach me through her. It didn't seem at all an improvised attack. Those were, yes, amateurs, but the mind behind this was able enough to hide himself. Not only that. He also managed to make his underlings fear him at the point of killing themselves rather than cooperate with us. These two factors bring us to not having a hint of who stands behind this. Many groups exist with the purpose of overthrowing me and bring chaos where we keep order. We need to find out who specifically is behind this, and act before they organize another attack." Sakura observed him. He seemed right into his element, all his emotions were pushed behind the façade of the warrior, the leader. He nodded when a guy with long brown hair asked for permission to talk.

"Shino reported about a fourth person being present in the house, right? what about that lead?" he reminded her somehow of Sasuke, maybe it was the detached tone. Or the look in his eyes.

Sasuke looked towards Shino, who intervened "The bugs followed the scent for a while. Suddenly the trail made a brusque turn, moving in the opposite direction of before. He dived right into the sea, which is where the trail was lost"

"He must have somehow realized they had been discovered and fled" a brunette with two buns intervened.

Sakura nervously noticed that the guy from before was suddenly looking straight at her "What do you remember?"

She felt Sasuke shift beside her, he was about to say something, and the glare on his face wasn't promising anything good; so Sakura intervened "Not much really. The last thing I remember is Sasuke leaving the gala, and then someone tapping me on the shoulder. But from there everything is a bit unfocused. I remotely recall waking up at some point, but everything just seems like a dream. I'm sorry, I'm not of great help" she ended meekly, not being able to watch any of the people in the eye.

Again she felt Sasuke breath in to reassure her, yet again he was beaten by another voice, one much softer than the others' "Don't worry Sakura-san. It might eventually come to you. And even if it doesn't; it was after all a traumatic experience. No one blames you for anything." When she raised her gaze she met that of a girl – standing very close to Naruto – who had a certain resemblance with the guy from before.

Sasuke smirked "Sakura. This is _Hinata _Hyuuga." He said with amusement in his eyes, recalling their earlier discussion "Neji Hyuuga there, is his cousin." One by one she introduced all of the people in the room. She was amazed by how such an heterogeneous group could possibly work well together. Had she not seen them in person, she'd have never put them in a group together. They all seemed to have such different personalities.

Shikamaru took word once more "Yeah, yeah. Enough small talk. Now that we've established that we have no clue, why don't we get to the problem"

"As I said: there are too many small groups who could be responsible for that. We need to investigate" Sasuke got interrupted again, this time by an ablaze Naruto "I bet it's Orochimaru! He's never far away when things like these happen!"

"_Even if_ it was him" Sasuke's tone suddenly grew chiller, and an eerie silence filled the room "We need proof. If we attack without before checking, we are giving all of them an advantage against us, everyone will start to demand the right to depose me. We _cannot_ act against our own principles"

Sakura's heart unwittingly started to beat furiously. She could feel it in the room, everyone was tense. Naruto looked abashed. What was happening? Not knowing what to do she put a hand on Sasuke's forearm, in an attempt to make him somehow settle. Instead the whole room seemed to tense up even more if possible. Did she just do something she shouldn't have? But as she looked into Sasuke's eyes when he turned towards her, she knew everything was alright, with a light smile she moved her thumb up and down once, as a caress.

Sasuke sighed. He hadn't meant to lose his cool. It was just the thought of an impelling threat and all that this brought with it had him on his toes. When Orochimaru was mentioned he just lost it. He knew everyone was waiting for him to lash. It wasn't right, he didn't want to be the kind of leader who instilled fear in his people. After tearing away his gaze from Sakura's warm one he turned towards the crowd "Organise in groups, get information, see what is being said around. Try to find any clue about who did this. Even just scratching someone off the list is considered as an improvement"

Everyone nodded at his command, and the atmosphere in the room loosened up a bit. "Very well. Until the next time." And with that he grabbed Sakura's hand and lead her out of the room.

* * *

"Are you ok?" Sakura asked worriedly. The whole thing had shaken her up. The realization that all of the people she had just seen were vampires struggled to sink in, yet the thought that most bugged her mind was making sure he had recovered from whatever strange thing had happened to him back there.

He was still leading her through corridors, that didn't seem the same back to his room, and he didn't stop as he answered her "Perfectly so. I want to show you something"

Again he didn't know what pushed him towards doing what he was about to do. Maybe it had to do with what had happened earlier in his room, maybe it was because she was unsure about their connection, maybe he just wanted to make her become an even more integral part of his life.

Fact is, no hesitation could be found in him as he opened the door to a room nearly no one had permission to enter. When she entered her breath was momentarily stolen from her. If she thought the house she'd seen so far was impressive this room was majestic, not only in size, but also in splendour. It seemed to have a whole different feeling to it than the rest of the house. As if it was part of a completely different building.

She turned to him – realising she had unconsciously taken a few steps inside the room by herself – "What is this?" she asked perusing again the beautiful red chairs and sofas and the rest of the furnishing.

She jumped as Sasuke put a hand on the small of her back, when she turned her head to meet his eyes his face was serious "This way" he led her towards a wall, left from the door. On the red wall the only object was a big painting featuring a woman and a man holding hand while sitting on a bench.

When Sasuke kept still Sakura turned to watch his face. Ah, there it was again. That lonely, sad look. The one she had seen since the first time she saw him. There he was. Not the leader. Not the vampire. Simply Sasuke. Taking his hand she softly asked "Who are they?" although she already knew the answer.

He took a deep breath before answering "My parents" he turned smiling sadly "I was eight when they died. Killed in this same house" he turned again to watch the painting, but didn't let go of her hand.

She felt her heart constrict, that was the pain she had seen in his eyes all those times. And even his reaction when she told him about her parents made much more sense. She tightened her hold on his hand, without saying anything. Knowing that words are small and flat and meaningless. The thing she had hated the most when her parents died were all the people who had such nice words for her, words that were empty, people who thought they knew better. There's no telling a person 'It'll be alright, don't cry' when her whole world just collapsed on her. What stayed and what comforted her were Ino's hugs, they were silent, yet so expressive. She never once told her not to cry, she only said 'I'm here' and those three words were more valuable than the big talks from all those strangers. So she simply tightened her hold on him, squeezing his hand and leaning closer, to make him feel her support.

Her thoughts had been too fast and mixed up for him to make something out of it, he felt however her sorrow, for her parents, for his, for him; and her need to comfort him. He squeezed her hand once in answer and without making the conscious decision to, he started talking "The Uchiha were the biggest clan, I had several relatives, and we were all purebloods" as he sensed Sakura's confusion he elaborated "Meaning we were all born from the union of two vampires, none of us were previously humans and then turned vampires." And her understanding nod he continued "Of course some married other vampires who had been turned, but only the eventual babies became part of our clan. Everything was going well, my father was the clan's head, and he was keeping peace between humans and vampires, it was a period of peace." He stopped for a second before continuing "Then Orochimaru happened"

Sakura observed as his demeanour changed and shadows veiled his eyes again, suddenly his hand clamped down on hers harder, she nearly flinched but didn't say anything, not wanting to interrupt him and risk not hearing the rest of his story "His men came at night, without warning. This wasn't war, this was murder. It was a coup. They all died, and it is remembered as the Uchiha Massacre" he turned to her and realizing he was hurting her he immediately loosened his grip murmuring a "Sorry", bringing her hand closer to his face and lightly massaging it.

But she didn't care about her hand, instead she asked him "When was this?"

Without meeting her eyes a humourless smile filled his face "The anniversary was the night the two of us met" he turned towards her again "I wasn't committing suicide but it's true I wasn't feeling exactly lively that day. Usually I take two or three days away from all this, and they know not to disturb me in that period."

She smiled "And then I came to bug you. Typical of me"

She succeeded in lightly bettering his mood, for the start of a smirk could be seen on his mouth "Yeah. You were a welcome distraction, actually" and he brought her hand to his mouth lightly kissing it "Come on. You're tired, let's get you into bed"

"But I'd really like to hear more about your family, about the history of your race! I have so many questions!" she looked up at him in Sakura-begging-puppy-eyes-mode, slightly afraid his mood would once again worsen with her bugging. But she was really curious and wanted to make the most of this moment of outspokenness of his.

Instead he smiled more "Next time. I don't want you to faint on me from tiredness"

She smiled at his concern, it was actually true that she started to feel the exhaustion caused by all the happenings of the last 24 hours; but as she walked down the corridors, still hand in hand with him, the thought of exactly how he knew she was tired came to mind. Not stopping she narrowed her eyes "You said you'd stop reading my mind! Really, it's not welcome!"

He tugged her so she was walking beside him instead of behind and smirked down at her "First of all I never said I wouldn't. Secondly, it's not like I'm intentionally doing it, I told you: there is a link, your thoughts naturally transfer into my mind." She only frowned more "Well I don't like it. So do something about it."

He simply chuckled "Yes ma'am"

As they entered the bedroom Sakura's eyes landed for the first time on her belongings "Oh you brought my things here!" she went to her bag and searched it, taking her phone out of it, to check for any message. When she saw the amount of voice mails left on it, she furrowed her eyebrow. Pressing a button she brought the phone to her ear to listen.

"_Forehead? Where the heck are you? I just got home. Phone me and let me know how you are"_

"_Forehead? Ok, this might sound crazy, but I have this strange feeling… please just call me back. You're with Uchiha right?"_

"_Sakura? I know you went away with his driver or what not, but at the same time I know you're not ok. And I don't know how I know this. I'm out of my mind, and really worried, and scared. Please, please, please, call me Sak, let me know you're alright. Love you. Again, call me"_

Her answering service was full of such messages.

With widened eyes she turned to Sasuke "How long have I been asleep?"

Sasuke slowly neared her, thinking of a way to prevent her from panicking "A day and a night. Approximately 20 hours if we count from the moment you got kidnapped".

It was inevitable "What! Oh my God! She's been calling for this whole time! She must be out of herself from worry by now! Moreover, how could I forget about her!" then she stared at him "Oh no! Oh no oh no oh no! she remembers! She remembers I left with him! She knows I got kidnapped! What if they target her?! She has my smell all over her the same way I had yours! I need to call her! I need to make sure she's alright! Do you have a car? I need to get a car, or a taxi. What was the number again?! I need to get there now! Talk to her, maybe get her to leave town. Shit where are my shoes now?! Oh, forget it, I can do without. The taxi number, what was it?!"

Sasuke swiftly took her phone away from her, tossing it on the bed, and took her face in his hands "Sakura, calm down…. calm down. It's alright, breath in, breath out. Listen to me, there is no need to panic."

She focused on his voice and stared helplessly into his eyes, waiting for a solution, waiting for him to say something, anything, that would solve this messed situation "Call her and tell her you're with me, you forgot your phone in the car and you'll see her soon. I'll send Shikamaru right away to watch over her and make sure nothing bad happens to her. She'll have protection 24/7."

He probed her eyes, to make sure she understood and trusted him with her friend's safety "Alright?". She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, opening them again she met his gaze and slowly nodded.

He smiled "Good", then he bent down swiftly kissing her forehead "prepare yourself for bed, in the bathroom you'll find everything you'd need. I'll go tell Shikamaru and be back in no time.

She nodded and watched him exit the room. This was getting complicated, she didn't want to involve Ino into this, yet she could not detach herself from him, for some strange reason she felt this was right. Sasuke and Sakura. As much as her brain told her she was getting into something much bigger than herself, she couldn't bring herself to deny him. Besides, he kissed too well to leave him without a thought. She giggled as she washed her teeth, that's what Ino would have said. Ino. She couldn't wait to talk to her about Sasuke, of course only about the innocuous things, but some girl talk was really what she needed. To put her mind away from the heavy thoughts of her kidnapping, of vampires and of Sasuke. She had called her, and predictably Ino's reaction had been one of furious relief, her parting words had been 'alright, you're ok. When we see each other I want details about you and Mr Uchiha understood? Oh and don't for a minute think you won't be punished for making me this worried, forehead! I'll make you pay'. Yes a bit of Ino was what she needed she decided, grinning at her on reflection.

As she exited the room the door flew open to reveal Sasuke. He smirked at her "Up into bed with you". She giggled at his playful tone and hopped onto the bed, she could feel the tiredness sink onto her again, but then a thought occurred to her; frowning she gazed up at him as he neared the bed "Wait a minute. Why am I sleeping here? There must be hundreds of free rooms in this place"

He smirked amusedly "I want you to sleep here. Where I can keep an eye on you" although he could as well check on her with his mind whenever he wanted, but he didn't mention that.

She narrowed her eyes but didn't comment on that "Well… where are you sleeping? You're not sleeping with me right?" as much as she enjoyed his presence, she didn't want to take what they had to the next level yet, nor was she comfortable with sharing a bed with him. Sure she probably had last night, but she hadn't been aware of it then, now it would be awkward. Right?

He chuckled as he sat on the bed and then sunk beside her holding himself up by leaning on his elbow "I'm not sleeping with you. I'm not sleeping at all, actually." At her look he elaborated "We don't usually. We rarely need to"

She finally gave in to her tiredness and sank fully under the comforter facing him "What are you going to do then?" she asked feeling her eyelids becoming heavier.

"I'll watch you sleep." He answered with a half-smile on his face.

"That's creepy" she murmured as sleep finally got her. The last thing she felt was a low chuckle and a hand moving her hair away from her face.

* * *

**And? Did you enjoy it?**

**I somehow don't feel completely satisfied with this, but it may as well be because it took me longer, or because I didn't get to check it with as much attention as I wanted to… I'll try in the next days to check it again and post it again in a better version, but I wanted to update it today, because I'll probably not have time to even switch on the laptop in the coming days :)…**

**tell me what **_**you**_** think about it :)**

**Waiting for your reviews :)**

**-debs**

**Ps: I don't know when I'll post the next one, I'm quite busy this month, but I'll try not to let too much time pass :)**


	9. Chapter 8

**Alright there you go.**

**I don't have a lot to say for this…  
**

**Just Enjoy! :)**

* * *

Again she was waking up.

This time however she was perfectly aware of just _where_ she was. And with _whom_.

He watched as she slowly rouse, how her brows knitted and her face took an almost pleased look as she stretched. When she moaned he had to actively restrain himself from attacking her there and then.

When she opened her eyes she met his smirking face, he was propped up on one elbow watching her, she wondered if he had actually spent most of last night right there observing her. She smiled at the thought. His husky voice interrupted her thoughts "Good Morning"

Her drowsy eyes twinkled " 'Morning" she answered with a sleepy voice answering to his smile with one of her own. Cute. He'd have never thought he'd use such a girly word. But she was. Oh. So. Cute. He bent down briefly touching her lips with his, smirking at her suddenly blushing cheeks.

"What time is it?" she was looking around but seemed unable to find a clock anywhere in the room "It's half past ten. You slept in." she smiled, as if pleased at the thought of not having woken up at the usual time. She was interesting to be around in the morning, so free of worries, so spontaneous.

She sighed "This is so comfortable. You need to tell me where you bought this bed, I need one in my home. I slept _really_ well". He chuckled and moved her hair away from her face, to observe it without hindrance.

She raised her hand to move the duvet a bit more comfortable around herself, but then she winced. Looking down at her hand she noticed a tiny cut on her thumb. "When did you get it?" Sasuke took her hand observing her hand. "I don't know" Sakura took her hand back experimentally stroking the cut "I guess yesterday evening, maybe while I was putting the things away in the bathroom."

"Come on I'll lick it clean" Sasuke extended his hand as an invitation.

She sputtered "W-What? No way!" she exclaimed blushing. No way would she put her thumb in his mouth.

He chuckled at her exaggerated reaction "Our saliva has healing properties, I'll close the cut in no time"

"I'd like it to heal the normal way, thank you" he only chuckled more.

She cocked lightly her head, fully focusing on him and studying his expression "You look strangely lively, dare I say cheerful even. What's up? Did something happen?"

He smiled at her perceptiveness, so little time since they had known each other and she already seemed capable enough of reading him "I have a surprise"

Hmm. This got her attention "For me?"

He flicked her forehead with his fingers "I certainly don't have a surprise for myself. Yes, for you, stupid!"

She frowned at him "Hey!" who did he think he was? Moreover: who did he think _she _was? A little kid he could make fun of? But she was too intrigued and amused by him this morning to take it to heart. "What is it?" now she really wanted to know what got him so energetic.

He huffed getting up and standing in front of her side of the bed "If I tell it won't be a surprise anymore , right? Come on, get up!" he hovered over her waiting for her to get out of bed.

Yet she simply groaned "Nooooooo" it was so nice, for once she wanted to enjoy staying in bed until late. Ino was right, she worked far too much and was missing out on the pleasures of life. Like sleeping in.

He narrowed her eyes "Quickly"

"You're so bossy!" she moaned hiding her head under the cover, in the irrational and world wide spread notion that under that duvet she was hidden from the rest of the world. "Deluded" she thought she heard him say with an irritated sigh followed by silence coming from her side. Would he leave her be?

"So you want to play?" his mocking sentence was followed by a few moments of silence, in which Sakura really thought he had left her to sleep, contradicting his sentence. Suddenly two hands grabbed her feet and she was being pulled out of the duvet-fortress towards the end of the bed at incredible speed, in the blink of an eye she was out of bed, and for the fraction of a second she could feel only the void under herself, before she was swung by two hands and found herself upside down.

Her startled shriek had him smirk as he made his way towards the door with her on his shoulder "What are you doing?! Let me down!" he only smirked more "Now" he was really glad nearly no one was in the house, they'd have made a ridiculous picture to anyone who saw them at that moment, with her yelling at him and he with his broad smirk ignoring her.

He set her down in front of a closed door, she had the time to glare irritatingly at him before she was distracted by voices coming from the room, one of those sounded strangely familiar. Her questioning look was answered by a light push by Sasuke, and unsettled she opened the door only to be assaulted by a blur of yellow.

"Forehead!"

Sakura started laughing, her relief palpable, and hugged her best friend back. She had to contain herself, for happy tears were about to fall; she was so glad Ino was there, that was all she asked for; in this delirium of vampires, wars and danger, her best friend was like a ray of light. She yearned for someone familiar whom she could talk to. Ino was there!

Wait. _Ino was there_!

She disentangled herself from the hug to stare alternatively at Ino, at Shikamaru behind her and then at Sasuke who was about to talk, sensing her turmoil. But she turned to Ino again, asking "What are you doing here?!"

"Jeez forehead! Is that anyway to greet your best friend who came to save you from the big bad vampires?"

Sakura lightly pushed her shoulder "I didn't mean it that way! How did you end up here? Did something happen?!Were you attacked?!" Sakura didn't get to finish her rant for Shikamaru intervened.

"No" he said, closing his irritated eyes "she's simply too much of a drag for me to watch over"

Ino glared at him "That's not true!" then she turned to Sakura with a smug look on her face "I beat him! He wasn't able to hide from me, for I found him and had him take me here." Her smug look intensified "I outdid him"

"That's not exactly true either. She managed to somehow not fall completely under my compulsion that night, so after seeing that she _just wouldn't_ calm down, not even after your call, I decided to let her find me so I'd be free of her" he still didn't open his eyes.

"What?!" Ino shrieked "You fell asleep. You did not _let_ me find you. I was simply cleverer!"

Shikamaru made a face "Shut up, your voice is killing my ears, you troublesome woman"

"I'm not troublesome! And my ears…"

Sakura was momentarily distracted from that amusing bickering by Sasuke's hand on her shoulder "I'll leave you now. Make yourself comfortable with Ino, I need to attend some business. I'll see you later, alright?"

She smiled nodding her understanding, and then flushed as he bent down to quickly peck her.

"Shikamaru. Let's go we're awaited in the war room" and with that he left followed by Shikamaru, who pointedly ignored Ino's angry cries that followed him as he exited the room.

Ino turned to Sakura "I got him! I really did!"

Sakura smirked as she sat down on a sofa, feeling tired already "Well that's a nice chemistry you two have there"

Ino sputtered "W-what?! Don't be ridiculous forehead" and she sat next to her.

Sakura's eyes widened "You're blushing! Oh my God! You're blushing! Ino-I-choose-them-not-the-way-around-Yamanaka is blushing! I'm going to be an aunt pretty soon." She ended, enjoying every minute of Ino's discomfort.

"Shut up, you big forehead! I came all the way here for you! The least you could do is agree with me!"

"Hmm, by the way how did you do it? I mean he said he compelled you, am I right?" she was really curious, this whole situation was odd for her.

"Oh yeah it's the ordering thing right?" Ino was starting to fume again "Can you believe the nerve of that guy?! He compelled me! He forced me to do something! That's a no-no on my agenda! That baka!"

Sakura had to smile at that and looking the way Sasuke had disappeared she said "You tell me about it."

"Anyway. Do you really have to ask? I care too much about you, to get caught in such a cheap trick" Ino said lightly pushing her shoulder against Sakura's.

"Oh Ino!" she couldn't help herself, she hugged her close to herself. She had really missed that chaotic of her friend; she felt her giggle in her ear, and as if hearing her thoughts she commented "It must have been hell without me and surrounded by all these vampires"

Disentangling herself from the hug she watched her friend strangely "You know. You're too much at ease with all this stuff, it's not normal to accept such a thing in a matter of hours"

Ino pushed her hair behind her shoulder "It's not that strange. Shikamaru explained everything on the way here, like how they began and so on. It all sounded very logical to me"

"You're not normal, I've been saying this my whole life and you're only giving me more reasons to believe it" then Sakura smirked again, unable to restrain from teasing her more "So _Shikamaru_ told you about it?"

"Oh shut it, forehead!" Ino didn't stay long in defence, and counterattacked "You're one to talk! You found yourself one good catch, little madam! What is he? Some kind of leader, right?!"

She refused to blush, simply refused. Sasuke captured her in a way no one ever had, she had no intention of blushing, she wasn't embarrassed, she was happy. Of course the fact that Sasuke was some kind of king on top of it all, didn't help her get more comfortable. But this time it was Ino's turn to stand on the awkward side. So she tried to answer nonchalantly, as if it was a trivial matter "His clan has been the head of all vampires since forever, as far as I know. And now he's the leader"

"That's correct enough"

Both Ino and Sakura jumped in their seats and turned around to meet white eyes.

"Oh sorry. I didn't mean to startle you" Hinata quietly said moving gracefully towards the two sitting friends; bringing a hand to her chest Ino exclaimed "Dear God! You freaked the hell out of me!"

Sakura patted her friend on her back soothingly "They tend to do that a lot. This is Hinata Hyuuga." then she turned to Hinata "Ino Yamanaka, my best friend. Please, take a seat, we wouldn't mind some company, maybe you could explain to us the matters regarding your community in a clearer way" she could never pass up the opportunity to gain more knowledge.

Hinata accepted the invitation, sitting down opposite from her "Thank you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude, but everyone is busy with plotting and researching, and I got tired of all the political and war stuff, so I thought I'd join you" she concluded blushing. Well a vampire blushing, Sakura thought, that was a thing she didn't expect to see. She smiled, Hinata seemed like a really nice person "You are very welcome to join us. By the way I still wanted to thank you for taking care of me that first night" Hinata shook her head saying it was no problem at all "I meant to ask Sasuke, but his wasn't the only clan, was it?"

Hinata shook her head "No. although his was the oldest among all the clans, some legends say it can be traced to the first vampires. To the Sages who created our species. However other clans formed themselves; I belong to the Hyuuga clan, for some time it competed with the Uchiha clan for the reign over vampires. In the end the Hyuuga accepted their position and served the Uchiha loyally, although throughout the centuries some disputes did happen. Other clans are for example the Inuzuka, Kiba is one of them, the Nara, Shikamaru's clan, or the Aburame, Shino's. Those grew because they were able to get members added by natural way" when confused looks met her eyes she elaborated "Mates were lucky enough to bear children. Of course there are members of the Hyuuga clan who weren't born in it, but they are only those who become partners of a Hyuuga. For example Naruto is my mate, he is a direct descendent of the Uzumaki clan, but he's the only one left from his clan; in the case in which two mates already come from two clans each partner holds his status" her smile became soft "Should we ever be so lucky as to conceive a child, he or she will be part of the clan whose features he or she inherited"

"What do you mean features?" Sakura inquired, as far as she understood, all vampires had the same abilities.

Hinata turned directly to her "You may have recognised the resemblance between me and Neji, we share the same type of eyes, and we inherited it from our ancestors, all those born in the Hyuuga clan behold these characteristics. It is not only an exterior feature: these eyes allow us a sharper perception of reality, an even greater vision than that of our kind. All of the clans have some sort of peculiarity."

"Wow! That is so fascinating!" Ino was completely bewitched, and without thinking she asked "Is Shikamaru's clan important? What are _his_ abilities?" the moment she realised what she had said and the looks she was receiving from the other two girls – although Hinata held her amusement at bay, what Sakura didn't do – she blushed and tried to amend "It's just out of curiosity"

"Sure, sure pig. Just curiosity… Where you wondering what privileges you'd obtain if you joined his clan?" Sakura teased, it was a once in a lifetime, to get to tease Ino in such a way, and since normally it was the other way around and she couldn't pass up the opportunity.

"Well of course, she could _hypothetically_ become part of his clan. If she was his mate and if she got turned" Hinata intervened, seeing as Ino's face was about to melt from how hot it had become; she hadn't realised however how her words affected the two girls.

At the same time Ino exclaimed "Mate?" and Sakura "Turned?", though the first was said in excitement and the second in concealed dread.

Hinata was perplexed "Well, yeah. Isn't it the same for humans? I mean for vampires there is and always will be only one mate. It's the same for you right?"

"No! Oh, no, it isn't." Ino immediately answered "Thrust me, fewer and fewer are the couples who manage to stay together throughout the years"

Hinata's face scrunched up "But. That's absurd! How can you be with someone, whom is not destined to be with you?!"

Ino laughed cynically "Oh please! Do you really believe this? I get that you all are very old, so you have time to find the one who most suits you, but how can you believe in destiny?"

Hinata shook her head, wearing an expression that said she knew better "It's not a matter of who is more compatible with you. It is more like for every vampire only one mate will be born that could accompany him or her through our long life. We believe in it. Because sooner or later we all seem to find that person. You were told how hard it is to turn humans, how most of the times the process is not withstood. Well, all the human mates can stand the changes. And separation never occurred"

But Sakura was only half listening, she felt that familiar feeling of unease rousing in her stomach "You said something about 'turning' ?" she managed to ask. Wrenching the words out of herself was hard.

Hinata didn't notice her change in attitude, too perplexed by Ino's reasoning "Well yes. It's obvious that once a vampire finds a mate the consequential thing to do is the changing. How could they otherwise be together?"

Unbidden the thought of her newfound relationship with Sasuke came to mind. Did he consider her his mate? He took her blood. Did he expect her to give herself up to him? Did she want to become like him, like them? She started feeling anxious, she had just gotten to know him, they hadn't even defined what they had yet, she couldn't think about such matters now. Destined to be together? Sure, she had decided to take a chance and see where this… 'thing'…. would take her, she couldn't already consider the notion of spending the rest of her life with him, all the more if it was eternity. She just hoped he wouldn't expect her to move so fast so quickly; because if she thought of it in that exact moment, even though the possibilities and abilities that came with being a vampire, the only thought that came to mind was_: I don't want to change._

_You don't have to. You won't._

She looked started around herself, half expecting Sasuke to appear through a door. Then she realised.

_Sakura. I'd never ask you to give up your life for me. Do not fret. We will take one step at a time._

For the first time she didn't mind his intrusion of her privacy, she welcomed his reassuring presence in her mind. _Alright. Sorry… _she felt guilty about instinctively thinking she didn't want to become like him.

_Don't apologise. There is no need to._

In the meantime the conversation went on "Are there a lot of human-turned-vampire-mates?" Ino was avid for information.

"Well yes, couples are mostly made of a mixed pair; there was a time in which unions formed by two purebloods – vampires born from two vampires who were created the natural way – was more common, but that was when clans were vey numerous. Nowadays it is more common for a vampire to have a human mate." The girl – whose name Sakura vaguely remembered to be Tenten – smiled when she noticed the start of the girls, only Hinata calmly smiled back "Neji and I are an example. We met, fell in love, he changed me and now I'm part of his clan. And our baby would be a Hyuuga, of course, if we had one. Obviously the story is slightly longer and more complex, but I'll leave that for a day in which we have more time."

She reached the three girls and stretched "Ugh. As much as I enjoy fighting and strategies, they're not reaching a conclusion there, it's all going round and round in vain. I had to take a pause, they're all getting nervous. " then she turned to Ino " Oh sorry! We met when Shikamaru brought you here, right?" and she moved towards her extending a hand "Hi. I didn't get to introduce myself last time. My name's Tenten"

All of a sudden Sakura felt faint. She bought a hand to her head, those words triggered her memory. What was it that was trying to resurface so strongly? And then all became clear.

Kabuto.

_Sasuke!_

But he had already sensed her revelation. Within a minute the door burst open and Sasuke was in front of her. Kneeling down before her, he took hold of her shoulders "What else do you remember?"

She tuned out Ino's startled questions – but took note, for later use, of how Shikamaru calmed her down – and concentrated "His name was Kabuto. He was the guy who hit on me on the bus, when you defended me. I think he compelled me, because I remember vaguely walking out of the room. I think he brought me into a car and then it's all black. I kind of woke up at some point, and I'm fairly sure to say I recognised his voice saying someone wanted me to be left untouched. The next thing I remember is you."

He watched her, and momentarily forgot his fury seeing the look she sent him to as she said those words. It was the look of relief at the memory of him saving her, and dare he say there was undoubted affection in her eyes. He didn't want to say love, for he had just assured her they would take things slowly, but he allowed himself to hope. Hope. That was something he had been deprived of for some time now.

He nodded at her words. It was more than enough, even though she didn't know it yet. He wanted to talk the 'mate' thing out, actually he had meant to avoid the topic until things were more solid between them, but now he wanted her at ease: he himself didn't want to rush things, not sure that what Naruto had hinted when he found him was true, that 'I'm happy for you' held more meaning than he had wanted to think about at that date. But he didn't have time now. He simply took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

Then he turned towards the men who had followed him inside the room, and met their angry eyes.

"It's Orochimaru" Shikamaru considered under his breath.

"He's going to pay for this!" Naruto's eyes were starting to get a strange red glint to them.

"We have Kabuto's smell" Shino added coldly.

"When are we leaving?!" Kiba couldn't restrain his aggressiveness much more.

All the other men seemed to agree with them.

But Sasuke slowly shook his head "No. We need to plan this right" he said.

He would indeed pay.

* * *

**How was it? **

**I'm still half asleep so I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, so let me know what you think…**

**Waiting to read your wonderful reviews**

**-debs**

**PS: Oh I nearly forgot to say: I may write about the progressing of the story on my profile, so if at some point I'm strangely later than usual in updating or you want to know how much more time you have to wait, just visit my profile, you might find the answer there :) have a nice day!**


End file.
